


A King and Knight's Guide to Becoming Friends

by sylph_of_eons



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Jerks to Friends, but it doesnt exactly have a personality, i mean its sentient, is dark matter even a character?, its more like a world eating blob, some rewrites of canon, this is my first fic on ao3 so expect errors, very minor though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-10-15 16:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 59,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylph_of_eons/pseuds/sylph_of_eons
Summary: Two stuck-up losers fight each other but then eventually learn the power of friendship from a baby pink puffball.





	1. Chapter 1 - The King of Dreams and the Knight of Nightmares

There was no denying the fact that Dedede has just made a very terrible mistake. A mistake that could threaten life in his kingdom as he knew it. With a broken artifact of great magic in his hands, he travels from the Fountain of Dreams back to the Orange Ocean in search of a great hero. A masked knight, dedicated to the art of swordplay had supposedly made his home in a golden tower, looking over the arctic sea. The king was accompanied by no one, not even his loyal waddle dee followers. The King might not have been terribly bright, but he knew that he had done, could not be known be anyone.

  
His journey was over fairly quickly as he reached the doors of the moonlit tower. The king gulped as he stepped forward and heaved the doors aside. The tower's interior was gilded with gold just like its exterior. The only difference being that the walls and floors were graced with slashes, evidence of that whoever lived here, was truly a warrior of experience. The King of Dreamland raised his head to a platform overlooking a window. Atop the platform was a caped figure of a rather small stature, staring up to the stars.  
The figure slightly moved their head, revealing a silver mask. "You've got a lot of nerve straying so far from your castle, King Dedede."

  
Dedede gulped. "W-well you see, I-"

  
The shadowy figure spun around, revealing his mask and piercing gold eyes in full. "I saw you come this way from the Fountain of Dreams. Did anything happen while you were there?"

  
The king shuddered as the knight asked the one question he hoped that they would not ask. The king felt compelled to show the knight the broken Star Rod.  
The knight's eyes dilated. "The Star Rod? What have you-"

  
"I don't know what this thing used to be good for, but it's not that anymore." Dedede stuffed the broken rod back into his robe. "I heard that in this tower lives a great warrior, and I could kinda use one of those right now."

  
The knight squinted. "That warrior would be I. What is it you ask of me to do?"

  
"Here." Dedede chucked the star-shaped point of the rod up to the shadowy warrior. "Whatever you, make sure that the Star Rod is NOT taken back to the Fountain of Dreams."  
 _There is no way this is going to work. This guy means way too much business. He's not going to believe me!_

  
Dedede's thoughts were interrupted by the knight's voice echoing through the halls. "Normally, I would say 'no' to such an absurd request. But as you are the king of this land; upon my honor of a knight, I promise to see this task through to its end."

  
"Wait, really?" _Way to be cool about this, Triple-D._

  
The figure nodded, "Aye. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to tell my students of their new assignment. Safe travels, Your Highness." And with that, the knight spun into blur and vanished into the night sky.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"So, did he say 'yes'?" Dedede's chief waddle doo asked as she, the King, and a certain waddle dee stuffed their faces in with cake.

  
"I think he did. Honestly, it's kind of hard to get a read off that guy." Dedede replied, trying as much to convince 'The Waddle-Doo General' Dooloo as to convince himself.

  
"Wait, it was Meta Knight, right? Like, 'the' Meta Knight?" The waddle dee asked.

  
"Yeah, it was him. Mask and cape and all." Dedede continued to chew on his his cake. "He was little shorter than I expected though."

  
"What, got a problem with short people!?" Dooloo flailed her arms.

  
Before Dedede could come up with a response that could make Dooloo even angrier, another waddle dee creaked open the door to the throne room. "Uh? Y-your M-m-majesty?"

  
"Yeah, what is it, now?" Dedede grumbled.

  
"Uh, Regarding the, uh, Star Rod thing..."

  
Dedede felt his heart stop. "Yeah...What about it."

  
The nervous waddle dee just stood there, trembling, for the next several seconds. Dooloo rolled her singular eye and set down her plate. "Do I have to do everything around here?" The waddle doo mage marched closer to the other waddle dee. "Soldier! If you have something to report, report it!"

  
"K-KIRBY JUST TOOK A STAR ROD PIECE FROM WHISPY WOODS!" The other dee blurted out.

  
_KIRBY!? THAT BABY PUFFBALL?_ Dedede had a score to settle with the puff, ever since Kirby stopped Dedede's plans of stealing all of Dreamland's food. OK, to be fair, maybe I kinda deserved that. But still, from what Dedede could gather, Kirby was like a little kid. Him having the Star Rod would be bad news for ALL of Dreamland, no matter how well-meaning he may be.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Wait, so YOU didn't dream at all last night either?" A skull-masked knight asked another knight wielding a mace.

  
The mace-wielding knight tilted their head. "No. But I'm sure that this is nothing out of the ordinary, Axe. Maybe we just didn't remember our dreams?"

  
Another knight wielding a trident walked up to the other knights. "I don't think so. I just asked Javelin Knight and they said that they stopped having dreams too."

  
The skull-masked knight jumped back. "Are you sure?! Just what is happening here? First, people stop having dreams!? Next thing we know, evil eye balls will come from outer space and-"

  
The frazzled knights were cut off by the sound of a loud shout. "Meta-Knights! At Attention!"

  
The three knights stood at attention and faced their leader, holding his golden, pronged sword to the sky. Now that he had the knights' attention, Meta Knight stuck his sword into the ground before him. "I'm certain that you all have noticed by now that something strange has been happening in Dreamland."

  
Axe Knight was the first to break from attention and said "I'll say! According to Trident and Mace, none of us have had any dreams recently!"

  
"And, I think I know why that is. But that's not important right now." The caped knight explained. "Right now, we have a job to do. A legendary artifact known as the 'Star Rod' has been broken and scattered across Dreamland, and we need to make sure it's not reconstructed and taken back to the Fountain of Dreams."

  
The three other knights stood in silence for a couple of seconds until Mace Knight spoke up. "Why?"

  
Meta Knight sighed. "That's...somewhat hard to explain. All I know is that I have orders to guard the broken Star Rod pieces and to guard the Fountain of Dreams."

  
"Orders from 'who'?" Mace Knight inquired.

  
The caped figure sighed again, with extra frustration. "Our King, King Dedede."

  
"That guy!? C'mon, Sir Meta Knight! We're better than this!" Axe Knight whined.

  
"I'm with Axe on this one, Sir. I'm pretty sure that Dedede is not even a real king." Mace Knight interjected.

  
"Not to mention NONE of us like him." Trident Knight says, speaking up after listening silently to the other knights' conversation.

  
"Aye. I'm well aware. But until I've figured out EXACTLY what's going on, our mission is to defend the Star Rod pieces and the Fountain of Dreams. Understood?" Meta Knight replied.

  
The other knights looked at each other before nodding. "Yes, sir!"

  
Meta Knight smiled, not that his companions could tell. "Thank you. For now we'll head to Ice Cream Island and hold a post there. I'm looking forward to see how you perform. I wish you all well." And once more, the knight swooshed his cape and vanished into thin air.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 _But why was Whispy Woods holding a Star Rod piece anyways?_ Kirby pondered to himself as he continued his journey through Ice Cream Island. _I hope that what I heard about the Fountain of Dreams is true. I would really like to start dreaming again._ Kirby was so lost in thought that he hardly noticed the shadowy figure following him.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Meta Knight jumped out of the shadows in front of his league of knights. "At attention. I think I found the person who's been collecting the Star Rod pieces."

  
"Really? What do they look like?" Javelin Knight's shrill voice asked.

  
_I...can't believe it. The person who single handledly humilated King Dedede himself, is a child. Not just that, but he's a child of my species._ Meta Knight was particularly surprised by this because he believed that he was the only one of his kind on Pop Star. But he had to get back to the matter at hand. "They...look like a pink puffball."

  
The other Meta-Knights stood in silence before Javelin spoke up. "Wait, what?"

  
Mace Knight crossed their arms. "This mission couldn't get any weirder."

  
"I know what you're thinking, but this puffball has single-handedly stormed Castle Dedede before, so don't underestimate them. We have a job to do, so do it right!" Meta Knight asserted, however awkwardly. 

  
Axe Knight raised their axe triumphantly. "Don't worry, Sir Meta Knight! We'll pulverize this puffball no problem!"

  
Meta Knight was still concerned for his inexperienced followers, but he needed to go check on the Star Rod piece at the Butter Building, so he didn't have much choice in the matter. "Alright. Remember, don't get overconfident! Treat this fight as you would any other-"

  
"Hey-! What are you all talking about over there?" The Meta-Knights spun around to see a small, pink, puffball waving to them.

  
_H-how did he sneak up on us?_ "W-well. I'm going to leave...this to you. Good luck." Meta Knight swung his sword to signal the knights to begin their battle before he took off to handle his other duties.


	2. Chapter 2 - Step One: Question Their Leadership Capabilities

Meta Knight finally arrived at the infamous Butter Building, a massive, yellow brick skyscraper past the Ice Cream Island. The tower was bustling with activity as numerous waddle dees and doos transported construction equipment. Up in the sky, surrounding the tower, Meta Knight could see several airships surveying the Butter Building from the air. _King Dedede has certainly spared no expense in protecting the Star Rod, huh?_ After gathering his surroundings, Meta Knight decided to head for the building's entrance, where a waddle doo wearing a blue witch's hat was speaking to a group of waddle dees.

  
"Honestly, it would just be best for you guys to stay out of the way. Kirby has already proven that he can curb-stomp you guys no problem, and I don't want unnecessary harm inflicted on my subordinates. So just try to stay out of the way, OK?" The waddle doo said.

  
"Hehe! 'Kirb' stomp! Very funny, Colonel Dooloo!" One of the waddle dees leaned over, trying to give Dooloo a high-five.

  
Dooloo, however, looked like she was sweltering with rage. "Is that the only thing you took away from my order?!"

  
Meta Knight walked over to the distressed doo and said "Hello, you're Colonel Dooloo, correct?"

  
The doo's mood quickly shifted as she aggressively shook Meta Knight's hand. "Indeed, I am! And you must be Sir Meta Knight!"

  
Meta Knight retracted his hand, taken aback by Dooloo's sudden enthusiasm. "That I am. Would you mind telling me exactly what's going on here. I'm afraid that I'm a little lost."

  
"Oh, certainly! Right now, we're working on installing more turrets to the upper levels of the tower." Dooloo explained.

  
"Which is where the Star Rod piece is being held, correct?" The knight inquired.

  
Dooloo nodded. "Exactly! But right now, our main concern is Kirby."

  
_There's that name again._ Meta Knight really needed a better background on the King's rivalry with the little puffball. "See, this is where I'm still lost. Is Kirby really that much of a threat?"

  
Dooloo's hunched over with darkness falling over her giant eye. "YES. That little 'puffball' is a big pest! I was there when he stormed Castle Dedede. I watched him destroy our entire battalion! I know better than anyone that that walking piece of bubblegum is not to be underestimated."

  
"I'll...take your word for it, Colonel." Meta Knight replied, still not knowing exactly what to believe.

  
"Sir...Sir Meta Knight?" Meta Knight turned around to see the Meta-Knights looking almost comically battered and very disappointed.

  
"We might have a problem." Mace Knight groaned.

  
Dooloo (somehow) put her hands on her side. "Ah, I see! You made 'rookie mistake number one'!" She glared at the Meta-Knights. "You underestimated the pink puffball."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Several days have passed since the Meta-Knights had their first defeat to the puffball child known as Kirby. Since then, the Meta-Knights have repeated their attempts to stop Kirby from collecting more Star Rod pieces with no success. As Kirby travels closer to the Fountain of Dreams, Meta Knight focuses his attention into tightening the defenses of the Orange Ocean, the place in Dreamland that he calls 'home'.

  
_If Kirby was able to travel through the Ice Cream Island with no issue, the Orange Ocean will probably end up being a similar story_. Meta Knight was at a lost. His knights were currently busy chasing after Kirby, so he was the only one overseeing the Orange Ocean right now. Typically, Meta Knight would be fine with being on his lonesome, but right now, he was feeling overwhelmed. _How am I supposed to protect both the ocean itself and the arctic sea?_

  
"'Scuse me, Sir!" Meta Knight spun around to see a waddle dee in sailor hat running torwards him. The dee skidded to halt in front of the knight and was struggling to catch his breath.

  
"Um. Is there something you need, lad?" Meta Knight said, trying to help the waddle dee.

  
The waddle dee managed to catch his breath and quickly saluted. "I-I have something to report, sir!"

  
Meta Knight couldn't help but feel concerned, considering how poorly things have been going recently, but understood that he still had a mission that he promised to see to its end. "Yes? Go on, lad."

  
"I just got confirmation from King Dedede's Waddle Dee Forces that Kirby is heading his way here right now!" The sailor dee started to tremble slightly. "What-what should we do now, sir?"

  
_Blast. What SHOULD we do?_ Meta Knight looked out along the shore of the Orange Ocean and saw all of the boats boarded along the beach. _Those boats are typically just used to transport cargo, but what if...?_

  
"Lad, do you have any idea who built those boats along the beach?" Meta Knight pointed to the beach.

  
The sailor dee lit up. "Well, that would be Captain Vul! I actually work for him!"

  
"I see. Well then..." Meta Knight flipped his cape. "Would you mind introducing me to him?"  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Dedede looked on to the Fountain of Dreams in shame. Kirby was just a quick boat ride away from the Rainbow Resort and would probably beat Dedede again, despite Dedede actually trying to do something good for once! _OK, well this is technically all of my fault._ Dedede shook his head in frustration.

  
"Um...Your Majesty?" Dedede jumped as he heard the sound of his most loyal waddle dee's voice.

  
"Jeez, Bandee! Can't you warn me before sneaking up on me like that?"

  
The dee scratched his head. "But I wasn't sneaking up on you."

  
Dedede brushed his robe. "Yeah, well, just don't scare me like that."

  
"Uh, sir?"

  
The king huffed. "I know. Kirby is-"

  
Bandee waved his arm. "No, no, no. I wanted to know about...what do you think of Meta Knight?"

  
"Meta Knight, what about him?"

  
Bandee shuffled his feet. "Well, it's just that...I always used to idolize him! I thought he was the pinnacle of what a warrior should be! But now..." The waddle dee coughed slightly. "I'm...somewhat disappointed."

  
Dedede cocked his head. "'Disappointed'? Why?"

  
"It's just-" Bandee sighed. "He isn't really doing anything! It's mostly just his followers, but they keep getting beat by Kirby, and I just wish that-" The waddle dee stomped his foot. "That Meta Knight would actually do something!"

  
"Well, you know, Bandee-" Dedede turned away sheepishly. "It's not like I've been doing much either."

  
Upon hearing this, Bandee immediately ran up to the king, flailing his arms. "What!? Don't say that, Dedede! You're the King! You're allowed to take a step back! Meta Knight is a knight that YOU hired, but he's not even joining the fray!"

  
Dedede lifted his head. "So...what do you want me to do?"

  
"I...I don't know." Bandee admitted. "I'm just saying that I'm not very impressed with him, that's all!"

  
Dedede patted Bandee's head and laughed. "What? You think that you could do a better job?"

  
Bandee put a hand up to his face and got lost in thought. "Well, I have been practicing with the spear. I think that in a hypothetical scenario-" The dee then jumped. "I mean-I don't want to sound like I hate Meta Knight! I'm just a little underwhelmed, that's all-"

  
Dedede let out a hardy chuckle. "Yeah, I know! I'm just teasing!" But he does bring up a good point. _Meta Knight hasn't been nearly as effective as I thought he would be._ Dedede grumbled. _If I want to beat Kirby,_ _no,_ _protect my kingdom,_   _I'm going to need to have another talk with Meta Knight._  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
In the span of a day, Meta Knight and Captain Vul were able to turn a load of cargo ships into a full-fledged armada, complete with turrets and troops ready to defend the Orange Ocean from anyone trying to reach the Fountain of Dreams. When Meta Knight first approached Captain Vul, the sailor immediately began refurbishing all of the cargo ships. Meta Knight was mostly impressed, but also concerned with how quickly the captain was ready to properly militarize the ships. Not many others in Dreamland are so close to turn to such extremes, but Meta Knight was satisfied nonetheless.

  
_I'd like to see that puffball get past the ocean now._ Meta Knight was alerted to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching him.

  
"Hey! Just is happening here?" Meta Knight looked up to see the angry King of Dreamland.

 

Realizing that Dedede was here, Meta Knight instinctively bowed. "Ah! Your Highness! I was not aware that you were visiting the Orange Ocean-"

  
"OK! We need to talk!" The king interrupted. "What do you think you're doing?"

  
The knight raised an eyebrow, realizing that the king seemed very displeased. "Well, as you can see, the Orange Ocean now has a functional navy-"

  
"I can see that, but I don't remember allowing that."

  
"B-but, Your Majesty! The ocean is now fully equipped to stop intruders! The Fountain of Dreams is now more protected then ever!"

  
The king crossed his arms. "Listen, I know that you're not exactly a native to Pop Star, but this not how we do things here."

  
_Is he mad!_? "With all due respect, 'Your Majesty', Kirby has already busted through every other means of defense we have! Once he gets past the Orange Ocean, all he'll have to do is-"

  
"I know that! But this is too extreme, even for me!" The king spat.

  
Meta Knight's eyes darkened with rage. "Perhaps, 'oh Great King'. But it's effective. You gave me a job, and I will accomplish it through whatever means that I deem necessary. Do you understand?"

  
Dedede looked like he was about to say something, but he just grumbled and walked away.

  
_Hmph._ _If Dreamland is really in danger,_ _then I will do what I must to protect it,_   _regardless of some self-proclaimed king's orders._

  
Meta Knight's thought was cut off by the sound of a distant explosion and turned around to see a burning ship and what appeared to be a small, pink balloon floating away from it.

  
_I mean-I'll certainly try._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! Next chapter will wrap up Kirby's adventure and head into the juicy stuff.


	3. Chapter 3 - Step 2: Let the Baby Save the Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING. This chapter contains some visuals that might be sensitive for every audience. However, as the rest of the fic will still be intended for general audiences, I will post individual chapter warnings when I deem them necessary. For now, enjoy Chapter 3.

  
Kirby was not just any puffball. That much was clear to Meta Knight. Most puffballs could copy their opponent's abilities. Meta Knight was an exception. But then again, due to Meta Knight's mask and being only one of two of his kind on Pop Star, no one even knew of the knight's and Kirby's shared heritage. But that was what bothered Meta Knight; the planet that Meta Knight had previously called 'home' was now lost to the sands of the time and the stardust of space. So what were the chances that he and someone like Kirby would end up on the same planet?

  
"Hello up there! Can you hear me?" Meta Knight looked over his shoulder and saw the thing that he dreaded to appear in his tower. It was the pink puffball known as Kirby who was frantically waving his arm.

  
_Drat. He must have gotten past the armada._ Meta Knight spun around and drew his sword, Galaxia, which glistened in the moonlight. "So. You must be the one they call 'Kirby'. I've been expecting you." _Though I wasn't expecting you to arrive this soon._

  
The puffball cheerfully nodded. "Uh-huh! I'm trying to get to the Fountain of Dreams, but your tower was blocking the way! I hope you don't mind if I-"

  
Meta Knight drew a spare sword and tossed into the ground in front of younger puffball. "If you wish to get past me, then I hope you're prepared to fight!"

  
Kirby pouted. "Aww...why is it that all of Dedede's cronies are so unfriendly?" Kirby bent down and chucked the sword into his mouth only for the sword to reappear into his hand, along with a fashionable green cap atop his head.

  
Meta Knight didn't appreciate the 'crony' remark but he couldn't help but smirk when Kirby took the sword. Meta Knight then jumped down from his ledge and made a forward slash with Galaxia. "En Guard!"

  
Meta Knight was the first to attack by launching Galaxia into several forward thrusts, forcing Kirby back into the edge of the room. Just as Meta Knight thought he'd cornered his opponent, Kirby jumped and hovered over Meta Knight. _It's not going to be that simple!_ Meta Knight then began to stab into the sky but was interrupted by Kirby and his sword falling straight on top of him. Meta Knight flinched as he heard a metallic scrape on his shoulder pads.

  
"C'mon! Why can't you just let me go past?" Kirby whined to Meta Knight.

  
_Because I have a job to do!_ Meta Knight jabbed Galaxia at the pink puffball once more , this time landing a hit.

  
"OW!" Kirby wiped his eye and began to slash forward with his sword in retaliation.

  
Meta Knight was able to block the first several strikes until Kirby's sword struck the knight's other shoulder pad. Meta Knight raised Galaxia, engulfing it in a blazing light. Alright, Galaxia. Strike strong and true. Meta Knight swung Galaxia down to the earth, causing the tower to rattle as a beam of fire flew across the floor. Meta Knight looked up, regaining his composure. Wait, where's- Meta Knight's eyes dilated as he saw a dark smudge on the castle wall. As Meta Knight dropped Galaxia in disbelief, a pink blur flew over his head and struck down on his metal mask with the steel of a sword.

  
"Haha! You missed me, Mr. Knight!" Kirby cheered as he continued slashing with his sword.

  
Meta Knight clumsily picked up Galaxia and tried to deflect the strikes once more. Meta Knight was so busy regretting what he had almost done that he didn't notice his swordplay getting sloppy. Before Meta Knight could regain his focus, Kirby had managed to raise his sword and slashed it straight down Meta Knight's signature mask.  
Before he could do anything, Meta Knight's broken mask fell to the floor with two metallic clangs. Meta Knight knew that his mask had broken by the fact that the usually darkness obscuring his upper vision was gone, as he could now see the golden star pattern decorating the upper reaches of the tower. What he could also see was Kirby, with his mouth agape and his sky-blue eyes sparkling.

  
"You...you look just like me!"

The knight flushed as he covered his face with his cape. _I...What do I do now? Do I run away with the Star Rod piece?...No. I'm tired of following orders._ Meta Knight quickly grabbed the Star Rod piece, the last Star Rod piece, from inside his cape and quickly tossed it Kirby.

  
"Here, it's yours. You've earned it."

And with that, Meta Knight spun his cape around and flew back into the upper reaches of the tower.   
From the upper darkness of the tower, he could faintly hear Kirby's voice murmur in disbelief.

"I-I thought I was the only one."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
A full day passed since Kirby made it past Meta Knight. Within that day, Kirby reached the Fountain of Dreams and beat King Dedede. However, when Kirby was about to place the Star Rod back atop it's pedestal, the King fell to his knees and begged the puffball to stop. Kirby, however, refused and did so anyways. What happened then is that the rainbow light spewing from the fountain was replaced with inky blackness that began to rain over the entire Rainbow Resort. In a last ditch effort to protect Dreamland, Dedede gave the Star Rod to Kirby and launched him into the cloud and darkness. From there, no one knew how Kirby was able to dispel the darkness, but all that mattered is that he did. Dedede explained to Kirby that he broke the Star Rod to protect Dreamland, not to harm it. The king supposed that all things ended well, but there was still one thing that bothered him. _How did Kirby get past Meta Knight?_  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Dedede once again entered the golden tower that watched the Orange Ocean and the Rainbow Desert. Nothing about the tower changed since he left it, but he still couldn't help but feel an air of unease. _Why am I nervous? It's Meta Knight that has some explaining to do._

  
As if on cue, a familiar voice echoed from the upper reaches of the tower. "Ah, King Dedede. To what do I own the pleasure?"

  
"Alright Mr. Mask, get down here where I can see you."

  
Meta Knight leaped down to the space in front of Dreamland's king. "If there something you need?" He said with a hint of contempt in his voice.

  
"Yeah, I need to know how Kirby got past you."

  
Meta Knight flipped his cloak over his mask. "I...underestimated him."

  
Dedede scoffed. "Oh really? I thought that you were to careful to do something like that."

  
"Actually," The knight started. "If anything...I...overestimated him."

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "Overestimated? How does that make sense?"

  
"I-" Meta Knight coughed slightly. "Don't want to talk about it."

  
"OK. So you lost. Now riddle me this-" The king sneered. "How did Kirby get the Star Rod piece?"

  
The tower was filled with silence for a moment. Meta Knight breathed in. "I gave it to him."

  
"YOU WHAT!?" The king snapped. "WHY!? I gave you direct orders to-"

  
"Protect Dreamland."

  
"NO! Protect the STAR ROD! Why did you-"

  
"That's it. My turn." Meta Knight flipped his cloak and put a hand on his sword. "Why did you bathe in the Fountain of Dreams?"

  
Dedede gulped.   
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Several weeks before the Star Rod incident, the king began to have a problem. He couldn't sleep, which was especially annoying considering how much he loved to do it. Whenever he tried to go to bed, he had these terrible visions. The first one was that the king had a feeling he was being watched. He did not know by what, but he could just feel that something was watching him. Studying him. Judging him. He didn't think much of the first nightmare though. He just figured that it was a bad dream. That is until the second night.

  
The next dream started out as normal. The dream had him going about his daily duties, one of which being inspecting the waddle doo guards. Per usual, Dooloo would boast about how great a job that her squadron was doing, but something wasn't right with one of the doos. Suddenly one of the doos started crying uncontrollably, but the tears weren't normal either. The tears were scarlet red, and when the crying doo did open its eye, its eye has the same striking shade of red. The king woke up.  
The third dream began with Dedede watching the clouds from atop Mt. Dedede. At some point, Kracko flew over and greeted the king. Nothing unusual there, since Kracko shared Dedede's rivalry with Kirby and the two got along well enough. What was strange that halfway through the conversation, Kracko's cloud body started to turn black, and not like he was about release a thunderbolt, he turned pitch black. And then Kracko's eye turned red, and then he started raining red, and then the king woke up.  
At this point, the king had become noticably sleep deprived. Bandee was the first to take note of this and asked the king if he was having trouble sleeping. The king admitted to it and said 'yes' and at that point, Dooloo entered the room and suggested that he go to the Fountain of Dreams. According to Dooloo, the ancient fountain had magic powers that were capable of dispelling nightmares. Dedede ignored it though, saying that he didn't believe in some magical cure to his ailment. Dooloo then simply huffed and walked away, but in that moment, Dedede thought he saw Dooloo's giant eye on Bandee's face. But when the king checked, Bandee looked completely fine. So the king tried to get some sleep again that night.

  
The fourth dream began with Dedede checking himself in the mirror. In his opinion, he was looking pretty sharp. Really sharp, actually. About as sharp as a shark's tooth. As he put on his kingly attire, he checked himself once more, being the narcissist that he was. He checked the triangle patterned band around his waist, and noticed that one looked a little...crooked. He reached down to poke it but was stopped by a layer of teeth opening from his stomach and biting on his finger. When he retracted his hand, he saw that the mouth on his stomach was growing more and more agape, and revealed a bright, red eyeball, staring back at him through the mirror. At this point, Dedede wanted to wake up at that point, but the nightmare continued as the room around him turned pitch black and the walls became alligned with more and more of these eyeballs. Dedede stepped back, hoping that somehow, a door in his room was still intact , but was met with only more darkness. At this point, the eyeball inside Dedede's mouth-stomach began to pull itself out, splattering red liquid everywhere. When the eye fully severed itself from his body, the eye turned back and gazed at the king. Dedede didn't wake up, but more-so blacked out of his dream.

  
It was the next morning that Dedede had decided to go to the Fountain of Dreams. The only one he told was Bandee, who let the king leave without question. When Dedede arrived at the fountain, he was immediately drawn to the star-pointed wand in the center of the fountain. _I spent all day getting to the Rainbow Resort. And what if I still keep on having nightmares after this? If I were to take a part of the fountain back with me to the castle..._ With his mind gone blank, Dedede grabbed the wand from its pedestal and gripped it firmly in his gloves. The power the king could feel from it was immense, and he felt like he was being washed over by a shower of serenity. At least he was until he saw a black stream coursing through his hand into the rod. As the rod's color started to fade, Dedede did the only thing he could think to do and jammed the rod back unto it's pedestal hoping for it to regain its color.

  
But that didn't happen. what did happen was that the Fountain of Dreams started spewing out a shower of inky-black liquid. Dedede, feeling frustrated with himself and not knowing what to do, did the only thing he could and smashed the Star Rod into pieces with his hammer.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"You...broke the Star Rod?" The knight whispered.

  
"Y-yes."

  
So my hunch was correct. "And you did that without thinking about the consequences!?" The knight yelled.

  
Dedede stumbled backwards. "What-what do you mean?"

  
"Destroying the Star Rod didn't solve anything! The fountain would've become corrupted regardless!"

  
"Is that why you gave Kirby the Star Rod!?"

  
"Yes!" Meta Knight breathed in. "There are...numerous ancient artifacts on this planet, artifacts that shouldn't be here. By attempting to use these artifacts we don't understand, you could endanger the entire planet!"

  
"That still doesn't explain why you let Kirby have the Star Rod." The king growled.

  
Meta Knight didn't want to admit it, but the king actually brought up a fair point. "I...It's hard to explain." It really isn't. The knight sighed. "I saw this 'spark' in Kirby. The spark of a great warrior and hero. I thought that in order to save Dreamland, giving him the last piece of the wand, would be the best option."

  
The king glared at him with utter contempt. "Yeah. But Kirby is my rival! I'm...I'm-" He stomped his foot. "Not supposed to help him save MY kingdom!"

  
Meta Knight glared. "I'm sorry, but your rivalry with a child is not more important that my desire to keep Dreamland safe. If you can't understand that, I worry what disasters lie in your kingdom's future." The knight than jumped back into the dark, upper reaches of the tower. "Leave."

  
And so, Dedede left.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Just so you know, Sir Meta Knight. I agree with you completely!" Axe said after Meta Knight finished his story about what had just happened.

  
"Me too, Sir. About time someone told King Dedede off!" Mace said, swinging their arm.

  
The caped knight lowered his head. "I'm...not so certain...I worry that I spoke out of place. He's still our king after all."

  
"Yeah, but I don't remember letting him declare himself king!" Javelin interjected.

  
"That's true, Javelin Knight." Meta Knight sighed. "I'm just worried that someday, something will happen to Dreamland, and it's going to be too much for Dedede and even Kirby."

  
"Hey." Axe interrupted, scratching their mask. "I just had a crazy idea." All of the other knights directed their attention to the skull-masked knight. "You know how Dedede proclaimed himself to be king one day?"

  
Mace Knight tilted their head. "Yeah, what about it."

  
"Well, what if someone else were to...try to claim the throne again?" The group of knights sat in silence for several moments.

  
"Well, I'd imagine Dedede and his forces would resist." Meta Knight responded.

  
"Yeah, but I'm sure that there's 'someone' who could beat them." Axe continued. All of the other knights turned their heads to Meta Knight.

  
The caped knight blinked. "Ah." He drew his golden sword from his cape. "I believe I'm starting to catch on."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. We're going there.


	4. Chapter 4 - Step 3: Stage A Coup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is loooooooooooong. Don't expect future chapters to be this long, but I felt it was necessary considering the plot I was covering.

  
It was sunset on Mt. Dedede, with the skys painted a brilliant orange and the clouds brushed with pink. The wind was howling against the cliffside, muting the sound of three sword-wielding knights scaling its cliffside. The band of knights was led by Meta Knight, whose purple cape fluttered in the wind. On his journey, he was joined by an indigo-clad knight and another knight with a green helmet.

  
"How much farther, Sir Meta Knight?" The indigo-clad knight said.

  
"Not much farther, Sword Knight." Meta Knight said, lending a hand to Blade Knight.

  
As Blade Knight got back on his feet, he pointed to a path heading up to the summit.

  
"Ah. Good eye, Blade Knight." Meta Knight paused in front of the trail and turned back to face his companions. "I'll ask you one more time. Are you sure you want to do this?"

  
"Definitely." Sword Knight asserted and Blade Knight nodded.

  
"Alright, but let me remind you that if this plan goes wrong-"

  
Sword Knight stepped forward. "We know, Sir. But we believe in you all the way." Blade Knight simply pounded his chest.

  
Meta Knight sighed. "Alright. If you're truly prepared to do this, then it would be best not to keep the king waiting."

  
Sword Knight chuckled. "He won't be king for long!"

  
Meta Knight couldn't help but smile.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The doors to Castle Dedede were completely opened. It appeared that all of the waddle dees and waddle doos were having some sort of feast; at least that's what Meta Knight gathered as he approached the gate. _Now what are the chances that their feast consisted of stolen food?_ Meta Knight mused as he watched a group of waddle dees carry a giant party platter into the castle.

  
"Alright, with me, now." Meta Knight gestured for Sword Knight and Blade Knight to follow him inside.

  
The knights wasted no time shoving waddles dees out of the way as they marched into the castle, but the dees were mostly submissive as the stumbled and fell out of harm's way. The doors leading into the throne room, however, were closed and guarded by Colonel Dooloo and Bandee, who was now sporting a blue bandanna.

  
"Ah! Sir Meta Knight! What a surprise to-"

  
"Open the doors." Meta Knight said, ignoring Bandee's greeting.

  
"I'm sorry, Meta Knight." Dooloo blocked Meta Knight. "I don't appreciated you talking to my subordinates like that."

  
Meta Knight could faintly heard the bandana-clad waddle dee whisper something to the effect of "Actually, we're equals."

  
"Out of my way." Meta Knight kicked the waddle doo aside and pushed the doors open.

  
The doors swung open to show King Dedede engulfing an entire party platter why several waddle dee nibbled on their turkey legs.

  
Upon seeing the knights march his way, the king tore a turkey leg from his mouth. "Meta Knight! Why the h-"

  
The three knights stuck their swords into the floor. "This is an intervention, King Dedede." Meta Knight announced.

  
Dedede sneered. "And just what do you mean by that?"

  
Meta Knight grabbed his sword and assumed a fighting stance. "Dedede, in light of recent events, I have deemed you unworthy of Dreamland's throne."

  
Dedede seemed stunned for a moment and then broke into howling laughter. "HAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, I'm sorry...but who exactly do you think is worthy of being king?"

  
Sword and Blade stepped backwards and pointed at Meta Knight.

  
Dedede's laughter stopped. "Wait, what?"

  
"I believe that my followers have made my point quite clear." Meta Knight edged closer, pointing Galaxia at the self-proclaimed king. "I think it's time for you to step down."

  
Dedede stood stunned for several moments before gritting his teeth and hopping off of his throne. "Yeah? Well, I don't think that it's going to be that simple, mask-head."

  
Meta Knight chuckled. "Oh, but I think it will be."

  
Meta Knight was the first to spring forward in front of the king, while Blade Knight and Sword Knight blocked Bandee and Dooloo, who had just ran in wielding a spear and a wand, respectively. As Meta Knight chased Dedede to the back of the room, the king grabbed his signature wooden hammer from behind the throne and blocked a swing from Galaxia. Dedede then tried to swing the hammer at Meta Knight, but the caped knight dodged with ease. Several of the waddle dees attempted to dog-pile Meta Knight, but Sword and Blade were quick to sweep them aside.

  
Seeing their forces being overwhelmed, Dooloo pulled out a transceiver. "Activate Karbula! Meta Knight's trying to dethrone the King!"

  
Bandee crawled over to the cyclops. "Uh...No offense, Dooloo. But Karbula's not going to be much help as long as Meta Knight's INSIDE the castle."

  
"I know, BD!" Dooloo shrieked. "We have to push Meta Knight outside." Dooloo grabbed her wand and scrambled to Dedede's side. "Don't worry, Your Majesty! I'll save you!" The doo then whipped her wand, shooting of a tornado of light, pushing the invading knights out of the throne room.

  
"Yeah! That's the way, Dooloo!" Dedede shouted as he continuously swung his hammer.

  
"Meta Knight! We can't get past Dooloo's beams! What do we do?" Sword Knight cried but Meta Knight said nothing as the knights retreated closer and closer to the castle gates.

  
From within the castle, more and more waddle dees arrived with spears (some had to settle for spare parasols) and continued to jab at the three knights until they were forced outside. Meta Knight looked up and saw that Dedede's war blimp, Karbula, had all of it's turrets trained on Meta Knight. Suddenly, a subtle bleeping sound started going off in Meta Knight's mask. _Heh. Perfect timing_. He clicked a small button on the side of his mask.

  
"Sir Meta Knight! The Halberd is ready for take off!" Axe Knight's voice said.

  
"Thank you, Axe Knight. I'll meet with you shortly." Meta Knight switched the speaker off and turned to his companions. "The Halberd is ready. You two go and retreat. If eveything goes smoothly, I'll meet you back here after we claim the castle. Is that understood?"

  
The two knights nodded and skidded down the cliffside.

  
"Aw, what's wrong, mask-head? Retreating so soon?" Dedede twirled his hammer.

  
"I wouldn't say that I'm retreating." _Time for my new party trick._ Meta Knight's caped began to curl over itself and release a pair of bat wings. "I just have a flight to catch." _You_ _better appreciate that one-liner, 'Great King'._ With that, he spun into the air and stretched his wings out further, gliding in the direction of the Orange Ocean.

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Meta Knight landed in the new Halberd hanger, his boots landing with a metallic tap as he hit the the steel flooring. Axe Knight was there waiting for him, saluting upon his arrival. "Welcome back, my lord! How did the mission at Castle Dedede go?'

  
Meta Knight brushed his cape after his wings morphed back. "About how I predicted it. I didn't plan on having Karbula be engaged though."

  
"Karbula!?" Axe Knight wimpered. "But Karbula is a huge problem though! That blimp could easily attack the Halberd and-"

  
"Fear not. The Halberd is currently the greatest battle ship on Popstar. Karbula doesn't stand a sliver of a chance once we arrive at the castle." The caped knight scanned the hanger. "Now, where's Captain Vul?"

  
"He's already in the control room. We were just holding off lift-off for you, sir." Axe Knight explained as they entered the docking area.

  
Meta Knight couldn't help but observe the newly completed battleship. The Halberd was a fine vessel, worthy of having Meta Knight's mask plastered on the head of the ship. From his position, Meta Knight could see his troops rummaging on top of it, preparing the many turrets and engines for the upcoming invasion. Though no one could tell, the knight was tearing up behind his mask. The Halberd was the first of her kind on Pop Star, but back on Meta Knight's home planet, there were several of them that would take off and explore the galaxy. It was always Meta Knight's childhood dream to one day own one of these ships, and while Meta Knight was hardly known for being sentimental, he couldn't help but feel like a little kid again as he saw the ship waiting for him to board it and take command.

  
"Are you alright, sir?'

  
Meta Knight snapped back to reality. _That's right. I'm not doing this_ _for fun. I'm doing this for the greater good of Dreamland._ "Yes. I'm ready to depart."

  
With that, Axe Knight and Meta Knight hopped onto the docking ramp and began to board the gigantic battleship.

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
"Oh, Heaven's sake!" Dooloo cried as she lowered the eye glass from her head. "Meta Knight got away!"

  
Bandee raised his hand. "Should we go after him?"

  
"Tch. How could we? The guy can apparently sprout wings now, and he's too small for Karbula to hit!" Dedede grumbled.

  
Bandee turned to the disgruntled king. "Uh, my King. Can't you also fly?"

  
Dedede did nothing but look at him with disdain while Dooloo rolled her eye. "Regardless. we can't just let Meta Knight go free."

  
The king huffed. "Maybe you can't, but I can!" Dedede turned around and started walking back to the castle. "I'm taking a nap! Tell me if Meta Knight shows up so I can beat him with my hammer!"

  
Dooloo grumbled. _Call me crazy. But I think that Meta Knight almost had a point. Almost._ It was hard for the waddle doo to not think that she was the only competent one in the castle; but of course, she'd never say that out loud. The one-eyed mage simply huffed and went back to scanning the skies. Karbula was still circling the mountain, and Meta Knight had flew completely out of sight; but then again, it's not like Dooloo had great depth perception. Dooloo tilted the eye-glass down to the cliffside to see if she could spot the two Meta-Knights that had accompanied him, but they had vanished out of sight too.

  
_Wait a second._ "Bandanna. You only just saw the two Meta-Knights, right?"

  
"Uh, yeah? Why?"

  
Dooloo lowered her eye-glass. "Well, if Meta Knight was serious about taking over the throne, why didn't he bring all of his knights?"

  
Bandanna Dee blinked. "Huh, that is weird. The only reason I could think as to why he would do that would be-"

  
"To distract us?" The two looked at each other for a moment before Dooloo raised her eyeglass again and begun to furiously scan the horizon.

  
Green Greens looked as normal as always, heck, Dooloo could even see Whispy Woods whistling a song. Ice Cream Island was still it's peaceful and tropical self. The Yogurt Yard Mountains didn't look any different. Even the Rainbow Resort still had that constant aurora floating above it. Grape Garden looked normal; too normal. Usually Kracko could be seen among the clouds of the Grape Garden, but he was strangely missing. Dooloo lowered the eye-glass to the Orange Ocean and noticed something...off. In one of the bays, Dooloo saw a strange, unfamilar structure begin to rise out of a building of some sort. The building looked like nothing Dooloo had ever seen and all-in-all was just very out of place. That's when the structure rising the ground sprouted bat wings.

  
"By the gods! Meta Knight has an airship!" Dooloo screeched.

  
"What!?"

  
"I-I need to tell the King!" Dooloo said, handing the eye-glass to Bandee.

  
"W-What should I do?"

  
Dooloo sighed in defeat. "Karbula won't stand a chance against Meta Knight's ship. It's completely hopeless!"

  
"And we can't beat Meta Knight in a fair fight either."

  
Dooloo stumbled torwards the castle gate "I'll...try to talk to the King about a strategy. You try to a find a way onto that ship."

  
Bandee held his hands up to his head. "But, that still means we'll have to beat Meta Knight in a duel! No one has ever beaten Meta Knight in a duel!"

  
"I know that! Just...try to figure something out! On my honor as the royal mage, I refuse to go down without a fight!" Dooloo proclaimed as she scurried back into the castle.

  
But who could ever stand up to Meta Knight? Bandee imagined a light bulb going off in his head. _I can think of one person who might stand a chance._ The waddle dee gulped. _But the King is really not going to like it._

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Bandanna Dee crawled out of the bushes to see Kirby out in front of his house talking to a stranger wearing a jester hat. It looked the two were playing ball but Bandanna Dee had to ask how jester-hooded figure was playing considering he had no arms.

  
Bandanna Dee scratched his head. "Uh, hey Kirby?"

  
The pink puffball gasped slightly as the waddle dee approached. "Marx! Step back! That's one of Dedede's cronies!"

  
"Huh?" Marx said, before getting smacked in the head with the ball. "Ow! That was not fair, Kirby!"

  
"Sorry!" Kirby puffed up his cheeks. "What do you want?"

  
The waddle dee stepped forward. "Listen, I know that we haven't really gotten along in the past, but I could really use a favor and frankly-" Bandee coughed. "You're the only one who can really help us right now."

  
Marx cocked his head. "Me?"

  
"No. I think he's talking about me." Kirby said, probably not meaning any ill-will but Marx still glared at him anyways. "What is it?" Kirby said, looking somewhat puzzled.

  
"I'm not sure what the best way to say this is, but Meta Knight's trying to take over Dreamland, and I don't think there's anything anyone else can do to stop it." Bandanna Dee explained.

  
Kirby tilted his head, looking very concerned. "Why's that?"

  
"Well, he has this MASSIVE battle ship!"

  
"Is it even larger than Karbula?" Kirby inquired, clearly very invested in Bandee's story.

  
"Much larger. We don't stand a chance."

  
Kirby frowned. "I don't get it. Why would Meta Knight try to take over Dreamland?"

  
The waddle dee sighed. "Well, If I were to guess, I would say it's because he thinks King Dedede is lazy."

  
Kirby hummed in deep thought. "That does make sense, but Dedede is really pretty harmless. I don't see why Meta Knight needs to start a fight about it. Why can't they just get along?"

  
"You know, that would be nice, Kirby. But that doesn't changed the fact that Meta Knight's on his way to Mt. Dedede right now." Bandanna said, sympathizing with Kirby's desire for them to make a compromise.

  
Kirby puffed up his cheeks again. "I'm certain that if I were to talk to Meta Knight, I could change his mind!" The puffball suddenly started to run off.

  
"Wait! Where are you going, Kirbs?" Marx called out.

  
Kirby twirled around and stared blankly at the others. "I'm going to Meta Knight's airship. I thought that was obvious."

  
Marx looked like he was about to something but Bandanna Dee cut him off. "You really think that Meta Knight will listen?"

  
Kirby nodded. "Yep! Besides-" He winked. "Me and him have more in common than you think!" Failing to elaborate, Kirby simply took off once more.

  
_I hope this works._ Bandanna Dee thought.

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
The plan was flawless. While Meta Knight's idea for a battleship was unorthodox by Pop Star's standards, but that's what made it so full proof. There was no contingency plan that anyone on Pop Star could have that could allow the Halberd's invasion to fail. At least that's what Axe Knight thought as they headed to the bridge. There was a part of Axe Knight that thought that maybe Meta Knight was being a little excessive, but after Dreamland was nearly taken over by the creature known as Nightmare, Axe knew that Meta Knight's reasons were valid.

  
Mace Knight saluted to Meta Knight as they entered the control room. "Sir!" Mace Knight waved to Axe Knight. "Hi, Axe."

  
Axe Knight took a seat besides Mace while Meta Knight stood in the back of the room. "Hi, Mace. "

  
"Alright, Sir Meta Knight. We should arrive at Mt. Dedede in a matter of minutes at this rate." Captain Vul asserted.

  
Meta Knight nodded. "Good job, Captain Vul. Keep on eye out for Dedede's battle-blimp, Karbula. The Halberd should be able to easily overpower her, but I don't want to take unnecessary risks, so keep your eyes peeled."

  
The vulture simply cackled. "Don't worry, sir! The Halberd is nearly invincible as a vessel! Karbula will be no problem!"

  
"And I agree, but I can't not express how important it is that we act with caution-" Meta Knight said, clearly concerned about Vul's overconfidence.

  
"Don't you worry! At this point, it's going to be completely smooth sailing-" Vul's explanation was cut off by a blipping sound coming from the control board.

  
Sailor Dee was the first to swivel their chair over to check the radar. "Sir! Something's on the radar!"

  
Mace Knight took a closer look at their panel. "Woah! This thing is moving at the rate of a meteor!"

  
"Axe Knight! Can you get a visual?" Meta Knight demanded.

  
Axe quickly tapped their control board and pulled up a video feed on their screen. "Uh, sir? You're never going to believe this."

  
Meta Knight quickly swooped over to Axe's screen to see what had them concerned. Meta Knight's heart stopped when he saw what was currently speeding towards the Halberd. The video feed displayed a pink puffball riding a golden star along the edge of the airship. "It's Kirby."

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Meta Knight clicked the button on his mask, cutting off the speech communicator. Somehow, someway, Kirby had managed to rip through the Halberd like a bullet. With the Halberd losing altitude, Meta Knight decided to officially begin the evacuation of his army. The lone swordsman, however, had one last thing he wanted to do. He decided that he was going to fight Kirby, one on one. The masked puffball marched out of the bridge with Galaxia in hand; it's warmth kindling Meta's Knight desire to fight into a roaring flame. As he took his place upon a metal platform, he tossed a spare sword down the floor. As expected, Kirby quickly skidded into the room.

  
"Meta Knight!" The puffball cried. "Why are you attacking Dreamland!?"

  
Meta Knight said nothing, and continued to wait for Kirby to take the sword.

  
"C'mon, Meta Knight! Talk to me! You don't have to do this!" The puffball started to whimper. "Please! Your airship is about to crash! Please don't make me fight you!"

  
The masked knight said nothing.

  
Kirby wiped a tear from his sparkling eyes and reluctantly tossed the sword into his mouth, gaining his sword ability garb. "OK. Fine. I'll fight you."

  
With that, Meta Knight leaped from the platform with Galaxia guiding him to the floor. "Very well then. Prepare to die."

  
Kirby was fighting much more aggressively then he did during their previously fight, likely because the Halberd was descending to ocean as every second passed and Kirby was trying to save them both. _Honorable, if not foolish._ When Meta Knight found himself cornered, he would now summon golden tornadoes to push Kirby away. They were much less deadly than Galaxia's energy blasts, but Meta Knight wasn't actually out for blood, he was out for revenge. The knight took extra care to block the pink puffball's aerial attacks, if only to save Meta Knight from the humiliation of having his mask broken. However, Kirby was quick to adapt as he began trying to swipe his sword at Meta Knight's feet, which admittedly, was an effective strategy. Meta Knight had always been quick on his feet, but Kirby's short stature made his attacks more accurate then any other foe Meta Knight had faced before. Before the knight realized it, Kirby had manage to duck out of the way of Galaxia's swings and performed an uppercut, straight up Meta Knight's mask, causing it to split once more.

  
"Drat." Meta Knight murmured as he shielded his face with his cape.

  
"Wait! Don't fly off!" The pink puffball said, scrambling next to the unmasked knight. "Come with me! I'm certain that everyone will forgive you if you just apologized!"

  
The knight scoffed. "I have nothing to apologize for. It is Dreamland's king who failed them."

  
Kirby frowned. "Listen. I know Dedede can be a bit selfish. But you can't you can't just judge him without giving him a chance!"

  
Before Meta Knight could come up with a response, the steel flooring beneath the two puffballs buckled, causing Kirby to plummet down to the lower floors. _Sorry, Kirby._ Meta Knight flapped his wings. _But If i'm going down, I'm taking you with me!_ And the so the Knight soared after him. Meta Knight kept trying to dive at the puff, but Kirby just so happened to land on a stray wheelie rider and quickly drove out of the way. Meta Knight kept trying to catch the puffball, but between Kirby's accelerating speed and the Halberd's falling debris, Kirby was able to launch himself of the falling airship and down to the Orange Ocean's shore. As Meta Knight landed to catch his breath, he failed to see the heavy beam that was about to fall on top of him.

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
"Sir! Sir Meta Knight! Please! Wake up!" Meta Knight blinked his eyes to see the helmet of a very concerned Axe Knight.

  
"Ah! You're awake, sir!" Mace Knight said, handling Meta Knight his mask, now repaired.

  
Meta Knight clumsily adjusted the mask back over his face. "A-aye." Meta Knight turned his head to past the beach he landed on to the ocean. "Where's the Hal-"

  
"The-the Halberd crashed, my lord." Sailor Dee said, gripping his hat in his hands and his eyes swelling up with tears. "It sank to the bottom of the ocean!" The waddle dee pressed his head into his hat and started to sob.

  
"Where are our troops?" Meta Knight asked, worried about the whereabouts of his soldiers.

  
"Don't worry. Everyone was evacuated and accounted for." Axe Knight said.

  
Mace Knight nodded. "We decided to let everyone else go home. Us Meta-Knights decided to wait for you to wake up."

  
Captain Vul loudly cleared his throat, causing Mace Knight to glare at him. "Uh, Captain Vul and Sailor Dee, too."

  
_Captain Vul._ Meta Knight couldn't help but feel a little frustrated with the captain. _He directly ignored my warnings about Kirby!_ As Meta Knight was about to scold the captain, a large hoard of waddle dees started to circle around the group, being lead by a certain hammer-wielding king.

  
"Well, well, well. Looks like your little invasion crashed and burned, huh?" Dedede said with smirk.

  
"Crashed, burned and sank!" Dooloo said, joining the King.

  
The Meta-Knights instinctively stepped in front of Meta Knight, their weapons drawn.

  
"At ease! Step down!" Meta Knight commanded. _We're not exactly in a position for a final stand._ He thought, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

  
The other knights reluctantly stepped backwards, looking very defeated. "I'm so sorry, sir." Axe Knight whispered.

  
Dedede elbowed Dooloo. "Alright, Dooloo. You're up."

  
The waddle doo nodded. "Of course." She pulled a scroll out of her hat and unraveled it. "By order of the king of Dreamland, it has been decreed that any attempt at throne-seizure will receive punishment. Meta Knight?"

  
The masked knight winced upon hearing the mage's shrill voice say his name.

  
"You have been declared guilty of attempted invasion of Dreamland and dethroning our Great King, the delightful, the dependable, the delicious-" She glared at Dedede. "Sir, I'm not reading all of this." The King simply shrugged. The mage cleared her throat (which Meta Knight wasn't even sure she had). "By decree of our king, you are officially banned from Dreamland."

  
Meta Knight's companions gasped and frantically looked at each other.

  
"The Meta-Knights will be allowed to stay in Dreamland, but if by any chance they are found speaking to one another, they will be subjects to the ban as well." Dooloo continued, ignoring the knights' whispering.

  
Dedede adjusted his robe. "Oh, and anyone else involved with the invasion will be let off scott-free." Captain Vul let out a "whoot!" prompting the knights to either groan or glare at him.

  
Meta Knight pushed himself back on his feet. "I-I understand, your Majesty." The knight paused for a moment. "Hold on, one last thing." The knight stepped forward. "Show of hands. How many of you thought that I was attacking Dreamland for no good reason?"

  
All of the waddle dees raised their hand.

Meta Knight huffed. "Well, you're wrong. I know that you all think that my methods are extreme, and maybe that's true. But, everything I did today was because I want to help you. Most of you have never traveled beyond Dreamland, but I have! And there are countless other people out there who could easily destroy the kingdom if they wanted to." The knight turned to Dedede. "There's nothing wrong with being passive, but there is a problem with being over-confident. You can't assume that everyday in Dreamland is going to be a day of peace, where the most you have to worry about is your king's appetite!" Dedede grumbled but Meta Knight continued. "Sometimes you have to adapt, even when you don't like it, because not every problem is going to be solved by a certain pink puffball!" The knight glared. "If you're going to call yourself a king, you better be prepared to protect your kingdom with force!"

  
Dedede adjusted his hat and gripped his hammer. "Well, guess what Meta Knight?" The king clicked a button on the handle, causing the hammer to create a loud whirring sound. The wooden boards of the hammer unraveled to reveal a roaring engine and a jet inside. "I am." Dedede then literally jetted the hammer straight into Meta Knight's mask, sending him flying into the night sky over the Orange Ocean.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP Meta Knight.


	5. Step 4: Go Searching for Cosmic Horrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for mentions of nightmares and hallucinations

  
Dreamland's king felt pretty good about himself as he went to bed that night. He had successfully defended his throne and gotten rid of that nagging extremist, Meta Knight. Of course, there was still one thing that bothered him. Kirby. Not that Kirby busted into the castle and beat up everyone inside or anything; but more so that Kirby was the hero again and Dedede was mainly just a bystander. _Kirby and Meta Knight act like I just woke up one day and decided to become king!_ Dedede's rise to power wasn't so simple. The waddle dees of Dreamland had been pushed around by those stronger than them, until Dedede showed up. Dedede was able to provide the waddle dees with a grand castle to protect them from harm and all the food they could ever want. It wasn't Dedede who said he should be king, it was the waddle dees; and yet, everyone has seemed to forgotten that. _Am I not important anymore?_ Dedede frowned. The only time anyone cared about the king was when he was causing some sort of problem, whether that be stealing food or breaking an ancient magical artifact.

  
The king stopped before his chamber door. _If Meta Knight thought that he could overthrow me, does that mean that other people have the same idea?_ The first person to come to mind was Kirby. Dedede indignantly shook his head. _I know the little puffball doesn't like me, but he wouldn't try to overthrow me?_... _Would he?_ Dedede opened the door and crawled into his bed, taking care to hide his new jet-hammer beneath the bed frame. Just...because. And so the king went to bed.

  
He wished he hadn't. Dedede found himself walking through one of the castle hallways. There was not a single waddle dee or do in sight and the hall seemed to continue on for what seemed to eternity, but the King didn't pay much mind to it as he continued his stroll. The King was walking absent-mindedly, to the point in which time seemed to not pass as the King just kept on walking. For some reason, Dedede began to feel a distinct chill on his shoulder, which piqued his attention enough to quickly check behind him. Nothing, except his shadow of course. The King took in breath and went back to walking down the endless hallway, until he thought he heard the sound of footsteps. He snapped his head back again. Nothing. He slowly turned his head back. He thought he saw something climb out of his shadow. He started walking faster. He heard the footsteps grow faster. He checked his shadow again. He thought he saw a shadowy figure holding a sword. He started sprinting, and kept sprinting, until he ran into a wall.

 

\---

  
"Great King! Are you OK!?"

  
Dedede rubbed his bruised forehead and looked up to see a bandana-wearing waddle dee with a shocked and concerned look in his beady eyes.

  
"Yeah..." Dedede looked around as he realized that he was not in his bedroom but somehow out in the hallway, slumped over next to a wall. "Wait, what happened!?"

  
"I-I think you might have been sleepwalking, my King!" Bandee helped the King back onto his feet (well, as much as he could considering Bandee's considerably shorter stature.) "I was just cleaning the hallways when you showed up and ran into the wall!" The waddle dee's eyes drooped. "I think you were having another nightmare..."

  
"What? No, that's impossible! The Fountain of Dreams is perfectly fine now! I shouldn't-" Dedede paused as he saw a black orb with a single piercing, red eye drift into the room. The King didn't have his hammer on him, so he did the only thing he could, which was punch the creature square in the eye.

  
"OW! WHAT THE HECK!?" Dedede blinked and saw Dooloo rubbing her swolen eye in pain.

  
"Great King! What did you do!?" Bandee said, rushing to the injured waddle doo's side.

  
"I-Dooloo?" The King said, retracting his hand.

  
A single, giant tear fell down the waddle doo's face. "Why did you do that, Your Majesty?"

  
Dedede felt his heart twist. "I'm...I'm so sorry!" The King quickly ran back to his room, slamming the door behind him. _What is wrong with me!?_ The king felt something watching him. He spun his head around the room, unaware of the fact that he was starting to hyperventilate. He somehow felt that he was being watched from the mirror, so he turned his head there. The king expected, HOPED, that he would just see his reflection, but what he saw instead was a giant, floating, black orb staring at him intensely with a single, red eye.

  
\---

  
Since his banishment, Meta Knight had resigned himself to never being able to return to Dreamland, and likely Popstar as well. Not to say that Meta Knight was happy about it, because he wasn't. While Meta Knight had many criticisms about Dreamland's inhabitants, the fact remained that Dreamland was place where he resided for a significant amount of time and was very upset about the fate of the Meta-Knights.

  
But none of that mattered now. Meta Knight always knew that he didn't fit on Popstar due to his love of fighting, he accepted this. But now, with his newfound freedom from past obligations, a rare opportunity has presented itself. When Meta Knight first learned about the Fountain of Dreams, he learned of the existence of several more of these fountains scattered across the galaxy and there was legend associated with them. If someone were to collect all of the wishing stars from each of these fountains, a clockwork star capable of granting any wish would appear in front of said person.

  
Meta Knight could easily wish to be unbanned from Dreamland if he really wanted to, he supposed. But he had something different in mind. Ever since his invasion ended in failure, he's been itching to really let loose. He was holding back in his duel against Kirby, so he didn't get a true challenge there, but with the power of the clockwork star, he might finally get a fight worthy of a knight of his caliber.

  
\---

  
Kirby had just returned to Dreamland after his visit to the clockwork star, Galactic Nova, and let's just say the whole thing turned into a big mess. Supposedly, Marx had returned to Pop Star and was recovering from having his butt kicked by Kirby; at least that's what Kirby hoped. For now, Kirby had other matters at hand. According to his animal friends, King Dedede was up to no good again, and as usual, this burden fell onto Kirby's shoulders. Frankly, the pink puffball was getting tired of all of the excitement lately; between Meta Knight, Marx, and now Dedede again, Kirby was feeling particularly worn out. Oh well, at least the animal friends had agreed to help him with sorting the king out.

  
\---

  
"Hey! King Dedede! Where are you?" Kirby said upon arriving to the top of Castle Dedede. Kirby saw the King in question, looking out from the castle's roof, completely ignorant of the pink puffball and the black clouds circling over the mountain. _This isn't like Dedede._ _Something's_   _really wrong._ Kirby hesitantly tiptoed over to where the King was standing. "Uh, Dedede? Is something wrong?"   
The robed figure slowly turned around to show the King giving an emotionless, blank stare; nothing at all like the emotion Kirby expected the King to have. As Kirby struggled to find the words to say next, the King casually picked up his hammer, with his blank stare set on Kirby.

  
\---

  
Dedede grumbled as he stroked his head. "Grrr...What happened." To his surprise, he opened up his eyes to see Kirby's concerned face. "What? You!?" The King jumped to his feet and pointed at the puffball. "What are you doing here, Kirby!?" Before the puffball could respond, Dedede realized that he was not in the place where he last remembered he was. "Wait, a second. What am I doing here?" Dedede looked up the sky above him to see a swirling storm of inky darkness. "And how long has that been there?"

  
Kirby raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I came here because you were stealing food again!" Realizing that he was coming off as a bit harsh, Kirby softened his tone. "I mean, do you seriously not remember that?"

  
Dedede rubbed his head. "I mean, that does sound like me and all, but I don't remember doing that recently!" The King gritted his teeth. "C'mon Kirby! I've learned my lesson! I wouldn't try something like that again!"

  
The puffball frowned. "Do you remember anything at all?"

  
Dedede put his hand up to his beak. "The last thing I remember is...I was in my room, and there was this...floating...eye...ball." The two both turned around to see the eyeball in question glaring at them. Without blinking the eyeball simply floated into the black cloud above Mt. Dedede.

  
"So, uh...do you mind giving me a lift?" Kirby said to Dedede, now holding a rainbow-colored sword.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight found himself on Floria, a peculiar planet located fairly close to Pop Star. The planet seemed to be fairly normal at first and even shared similar inhabitants to it as Pop Star such as its own variety of waddle dees. But after the first night spent on the planet, Meta Knight learned of a strange quality the planet had; the planet's seasons changed with its day and night cycle. Other then going from summer temperatures to winter temperatures in the span of two days, Meta Knight made quick progress with finding that planet's dream fountain and wishing star. After finding his objects of interest, Meta Knight took off once more on his quest to awaken the clockwork sun.

  
\---

  
Adeleine was having a strange problem. No matter what she tried, her paintings always ended up looking the same. She tried everything; different mediums, different compositions, different canvases, but no matter what, the subject matter stayed the same. Maybe I'm finally having an art block. She thought as she tossed her last painting off the tower where she was currently living. Despite her frustration, she pulled out one more canvas and placed it on her easel. With a deep breath, she once again brushed her paintbrush against it, hoping for a different result. After several hours of furious painting, she hesitantly stepped back to look at her painting.

  
"GAH! Again!?" The girl tugged on her red beret. "Why do I keep painting this stupid eyeball!?"

Tossing her paintbrush and palette on the ground she stepped forward and grabbed the painting in defeat. She decided she was going to review it one last time before deciding to trash it. Of all of the paintings of the one-eyed black blob she painted. Admittedly, this was probably her best. The shading on it was superb and it had this effect that always made it feel like its eye was watching you, no matter from what angle you looked at it. In her opinion, it almost looked like you could reach out and touch it. In some sort of childish curiosity, she reached out her hand and touched the painting; but it didn't feel like a canvas. Before Adeleine's reflexes could react, she stood in helplessness as the world around her was drenched in darkness.

  
\---

  
"So what did it look like?" Bandana Dee asked as the king hung his hammer up in one of the castle's hallways.

  
"Well, according to Kirby, the thing that possessed me was like a shadowy orb with a sword."

  
The waddle dee tilted his head. "So...like Meta Knight?"

  
Dedede's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. "What! No!...well I mean I can get why would think that, but no. Kirby said it also had some spikey-hair thing going on, and it only had one eye."

  
"Like Dooloo?" As if on cue, Dooloo walked into the room, holding an ice pack up to her swollen eye.

  
"What about me now?" The waddle doo grumbled.

  
"Oh! Apparently, the thing that possessed King Dedede had one eye, just like you!" Bandana Dee explained.

  
"Oh yeah, that's great..." The mage mumbled, clearly still in a lot of pain.

  
Dedede couldn't help but feel guilty to see Dooloo looking so terrible, mostly because he knew it was his fault. "Hey, Dooloo? You know I didn't mean to punch you earlier, right?" The King said, hoping to get that off of his chest.

  
The mage just sighed. "Yes, I know, Great King." But she didn't sound really convincing. Before Dedede could say much else, the waddle doo walked back out of the room.

  
"I really didn't mean to, though."

  
Bandana patted the King on his back. "Of course you didn't, Great King! That was all that Dark Matter guy!" The King sighed. _But it wasn't. Sure, I saw Dark Matter when I punched Dooloo, but I was still in control. That was all me._

  
_\---_

  
_I see that you're taking the whole "being banished" thing rather well, Meta Knight._

  
Meta Knight woke from his slumber as he heard a clear, ethereal voice. _It's been a while since you've spoken to me, Galaxia._

  
Meta Knight's sword gave off a gentle glow. _I've had my reasons. It seems that you've arrived on the planet of Aquarius._

  
The knight looked out from beyond his make-shift shelter to the moonlit beach. _Aye. You probably already know that I intend to collect this galaxy's wishing stars._

  
Galaxia's light dimmed slightly. _That's what I was afraid of._

  
_And why would that be?_

  
If Galaxia could sigh, she probably just did upon hearing Meta Knight's question. _The reason I haven't spoken to you in a while is because I'm disappointed in you._

  
The knight chuckled. _Oh? So you were trying to guilt-trip me? I hope you realize, Galaxia, that not many knights need to worry about whether or not their sword is still on speaking terms with them._

  
_...You've always been so deflective to any kind of criticism. Instead of trying to fix a problem, you just fly off looking for another one!_

  
_So you know what I intend to do?_

  
_...You intend to summon a warrior to test your abilities on, correct?_

  
The indigo puffball nodded.

  
_You should know that these "genie-in-a-bottle" types can be rather finicky with their wishes. I hope you already know how you're going to word this._

  
Meta Knight paused.

  
_...You don't how you're going to word the wish don't you?_

  
The knight glared at the sword. _Now give me a second to let me think!_

  
Galaxia's light pulsed as her voice laughed. _I'm just saying that if you do this wrong, you could doom the entire galaxy! I'm just wondering how strong you think you are._

  
Meta Knight looked up to the night sky, particularly to a golden planet shaped like a five-pointed star. _I'm as strong as they come._

  
\---

  
Dedede felt tired. Which was odd because he was finally getting some decent sleep again, but that didn't change the fact that he felt...tired. Usually when his waddle dees would bring him food, he would engulf his entire plate, but now he he rejects it saying that he's not interested. Usually when he was coming up new ways to show up Kirby, he would get a devious grin on his face, but now he would rather just sit in his castle and do nothing.

  
There was no reason why he should have been feeling this way; everything was fine! Kirby was off doing kid things, the Meta-Knights were keeping their end of the deal and were keeping to themselves, and he was no longer seeing Dark Matter out of the corner of his eye; so what was wrong? Dedede just grumbled as he walked through the dull hallways of Castle Dedede. The castle used to be full of color and felt so alive but now everything just looked dull; like some of that color had faded. For some reason, he found himself on the roof of the castle, which also looked dull. The king wanted to go look down at his kingdom, but he couldn't muster the effort to walk over to the edge of the roof; so instead he just stood there, emotionless as the clouds above him grew darker and darker.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It appears we have a matter most dark on our hands.


	6. Still Searching for Cosmic Horrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this chapter, we have fed-up sword mom galaxia, dededepression, and some focus on more minor characters

  
Meta Knight landed the highest cloud on the planet of Skyhigh, another planet that supposedly housed a wishing star. From the cloud he stood upon, he could see the planet's dream fountain just below the cloud. As Meta Knight walked towards the edge, he heard Galaxia's voice.

  
_Careful,_ _Meta Knight! I sense something approaching!_

  
The knight turned around to see a black cloud, resembling the creature known as Kracko on Pop Star, piercing him with icy glare from a single red eye. Before Meta Knight could ponder about Kracko's strange appearance, the cloud monster immediately shot out a ray of beams to the puffball paladin. Gracefully jumping out of the way, Meta Knight looked at Galaxia.

  
_Galaxia! What is Kracko doing here!?_

  
_I don't_ _think_ _that's_ _the_ _Kracko_ _from_ _Pop Star_. _Remember_ , _Meta_ _Knight_ , _Kracko_ _is_ _just_ _one_ _of_ _a species of cloud monsters! The idea that there is more than one of him is not inconceivable_!

  
The Kracko-like creature then dove down to knight, trying to poke him with the horns protruding from it's fluffy body. Once again, Meta Knight dodged out of the way, but did here a distinct scraping sound as one of the creature's horns scraped on Meta Knight's mask. Twirling Galaxia in his hand, Meta Knight shot out a golden tornado, that tore through the monster like...well, a tornado through a cloud. However, instead of dissipating, the Kracko-like creature's inky form merged together, however, without it's cloud like appearance. What Meta Knight was now facing was a black orb with giant, scarlet eye.

  
Meta Knight gasped as he realized what he was looking at. _D-don't tell me-_

  
_Galaxia hummed in his hand. That's impossible! Dark Matter couldn't have followed us all of the way here!_

  
_What...What should I do!?_

  
_Meta Knight, we have to retreat! We have to get off of this planet!_

  
Meta Knight looked down to Skyhigh's dream fountain.

  
_Oh no. Don't even think about it, young man! If you try to go down there, I'll-_

  
Ignoring Galaxia's orders, Meta Knight sprouted his wings and furiously flapped down to the fountain and it's wishing stars. However, the splinter of dark matter was pursuing them. With great haste, Meta Knight leaped onto the wishing star, which launched him out of the atmosphere of Skyhigh. Looking behind him, he could still see Dark Matter, inching closer and closer to him.

  
In his head, he could hear Galaxia scolding him about how irresponsible he was, but he ignored that as he raised her skyward, engulfing her with fire. As the black blob approached the wishing star, Meta Knight slashed at it with Galaxia, which caused it to give off a deafening screech.

  
_Meta Knight! Let's Go! Run Away!_

  
Once again, Meta Knight ignored Galaxia, and continued hacking away at the horrible blob. However, every time Galaxia struck the creature, a smaller clone of the entity would split off from whatever chunk of the being the knight cut off. Before he knew it, Meta Knight had become surrounded by a cloud of pure Dark Matter.

  
_META KNIGHT! NOW!_

  
The masked knight gripped the wishing star once more as he blasted off further into the galaxy.

  
\---

  
Dedede heard a distant screech within the darkness. Before, when he found himself possessed by Dark Matter, Dedede would just sit still and pray for the event to be over, but now he wanted know what had just hurt Dark Matter.

  
"Uh. What just happened?"

  
As expected, the only response he got was eerie silence.

  
"OK, fine. Keep your secrets."

  
The silence seemed to continue, until a staticy voice echoed in the darkness.

  
"We...have been attacked."

  
Dedede was shocked by the fact that Dark Matter actually seemed to have answered him. "Wait, you can hear me?"

  
More silence, but then the alien voice spoke again. "We were attacked by another one of the Ancients' artifacts."

  
The king grumbled. "Alright, I'm getting mixed messages. Can you actually hear me, or no?"

  
The void didn't answer back.

  
"Guess that answers that question then." But Dedede wasn't done. By some chance Dark Matter could communicate with him, Dedede just had to ask it something. "Why did you possess me?"

  
"...We possessed you because you are the King."

  
"I'm just **A** king. I'm not even a really good king."

  
"...You are...weak."

  
Now this Dedede could believe, almost. "Why possess someone weak? Wouldn't it be better to have a stronger person as a puppet?"

  
"...Not weak in strength...Just weak in mind."

  
The King didn't have a reaction to that, because that one was entirely plausible. "OK, next question. What was the deal with that swordsman?"

  
Silence.

  
"I mean, the last Dark Matter that possessed me."

  
"...The last Dark Matter? We are all Dark Matter."

  
The king huffed. "I mean the last PIECE of Dark Matter that possessed me."

  
"...Dark Matter was weak. Tried to become something we are not."

  
"Like, a great warrior?"

  
"...Dark Matter took the form of something you were scared of, in order to more easily join with you...What you were most afraid of at the time was a swordsman."

  
"So if that Dark Matter is gone, what Dark Matter am I dealing with this time."

  
Nothing could've prepared Dedede for what he saw next, as a giant white orb floated into vicinity, with it's swollen, solid red eye gaze centered at him.

  
"...Zero. The original Dark Matter."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight growled as he woke up in a crater. The ground beneath him was hot and rough and he could hear a rumbling sound going off in the distance. His mask must have fallen off upon impact, as his round face was scraped and covered with dirt. Luckily the mask didn't go to far, as the knight found it lying on the ground next to him. Slowly, the knight got up, readjusted his mask and dusted off his armor. As he got back onto his feet, he instinctively reached into his cape for his sword, but his hand just swiped through thin air.

  
_Galaxia?_

  
The knight immediately began searching frantically around his crater for any sign of the golden sword, but it was nowhere to be found. Meta Knight shut his eyes and tried to focus.

  
_Galaxia!? Where are you!?_

  
To his relief, he heard the sound of Galaxia's voice, but it sounded much more fuzzy than usual. _I'm nearby, Meta Knight! Quickly, try to get to a vantage point!_ _You'll_ _probably be able to see me then_.

  
The puffball immediately sprouted his wings and flew to the closest cliff he could find on the volcanic planet. The planet was sweltering with heat and was covered in pools of molten lava. Luckily, Galaxia's advice was well placed as Meta Knight saw her golden handle protruding from the ground on the other side of the cliff. Hastily, Meta Knight skidded down the mountain and gripped his firmly on the sword, sighing in relief.

  
_Galaxia...What happened?_

  
_...I told you not to try to fight Dark Matter._

  
The knight grumbled. _I had it under control._

  
_Of course you did. Now do you have any idea where we are?_

  
The knight scanned the red horizon. _My guess would be planet Hotbeat, assuming we didn't fly to the other side of the galaxy and landed on Neo Star._

  
_That's very unlikely, not to mention that Neo Star isn't entirely volcanic; so I'd say that your first guess is correct._

  
Meta Knight slung the golden blade back behind his cape. _Is this the part where I ask how Dark Matter found us?_

  
_Frankly, I'm more surprised it took so long for us to be found. Dark Matter is an intergalactic hive mind. It's probably more likely that it wasn't searching for us, but just so happened to find us._

  
The knight frowned. _So what does this bode for the galaxy?_

  
. _..May the stars help us._

  
\---

  
Dedede was getting real sick of waking up with massive headaches. His vision cleared to show Kirby, and strange blue blob and several animal folk waiting for him to wake up.

  
"Dedede! You're OK!" The pink puffball hugged the King to which Dedede just responded by shoving Kirby away.

  
"Yeah, yeah...whatever." The king looked up to see a familiar swirling mass of darkness. "Don't tell me-"

  
The blue blob bounced over to Kirby and the King. "It looks like you were possessed by that dark cloud, too."

  
Dedede huffed indignantly and looked at Kirby. "So, you wouldn't happen to have another rainbow sword lying around, right?"

  
The puffball shook his head. "No...The Rainbow Sword broke after I used it to defeat Dark Matter last time. But-" Kirby lent a hand to the blue blob, who coughed up a heart-pointed wand. "We do have this!"

  
The king raised an eyebrow. "What's that? It almost looks like the Star Rod."

  
A pink octopus girl floated over to them. "That's what I thought, but we don't really know for sure, so we just call it the 'Love Stick'."

  
Dedede tried to hold back a snicker.

  
Kirby puffed up his rosey cheeks. "Dedede. I know you don't like me much, but I could really use-"

  
"A lift? I got you, puffball." Dedede scooped up Kirby and prepared to put him into the cloud with his hammer, when a long, red tongue poked him on his shoulder.

  
"'Scuse me? Can I get a lift, too? I don't want Kirby to go alone." The blue blob explained.

  
Dedede looked at Kirby. "Let him come with me! Without Gooey, I'd never could have made it this far!"

  
The king let the strange blue blob climb onto his hand before launching both Gooey and Kirby into the Dark Matter mass.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight brushed off the sweat from his face as he reached Hotbeat's wishing star. This planet had been particularly brutal on the puffball, as evident by the many scorch marks covering the knight's mask, armor and cape.

  
_I have to admit, Meta Knight. Being able to travel as far as you had on this planet is no easy feat. You are truly a warrior of unparalleled caliber; at least in my opinion._ Galaxia mused.

  
_Thank you, Galaxia._ Meta Knight readjusted his mask. _But I have to ask, why have you been so talkative as of late? You clearly still have some issues with my current quest._

  
The sword hummed. _While I think you're expressing your emotions in a unhealthy way, I'm still curious to see what will happen as you reach your quest's end. Also, I'm worried about you getting lonely._

  
The knight scoffed as he tread closer to the wishing star. _Lonely? I am the 'lone' swordsman. I have no problem with being alone._

  
_So you're telling me you don't miss the other Meta-Knights at all? After everything they've done for you?_

  
The puffball swallowed. _I...I was certainly impressed by their loyalty and diligence._

  
_Little knight. You have no need to lie to me. Everything you tell me will remain a secret between us, no matter what._

  
Meta Knight sighed. _I...I do miss them. I miss how Axe Knight was always willing to pitch in. I miss Mace Knight's snarky remarks. I miss Javelin's weird spinning attack. I miss Sailor Dee's enthusiasm. I miss Sword Knight's cavalier attitude. I even miss Javelin's and Blade's silent contributions. I miss all of them._

  
_Are you ever going to go back to Pop Star?_

  
The Knight climbed on the wishing star and prepared for lift off. _I'm not sure. I can't go back to Dreamland. And even then, I never felt at home on Pop Star._ The wishing star took off, hitting Meta Knight with a refreshing, cool gust of wind.

  
_And why's that?_

  
_I suppose it's because I never really fit on Pop Star. Others always thought that I was an extremist._

  
_Do you think they might have had a point?_

  
The knight glared. _Do you?_

  
_...I'm just saying that you lived on Pop Star for so long, but you never bothered to try and understand them. You're reaction was always to try to get them to change for you._

  
_Because they were lazy and naive!_

  
The sword flashed. _Or are you just too serious and skeptical!? The past is in the past! Who cares if their way of life was too carefree? You're first reaction on landing on an entirely peaceful should not have been "let's go look for a fight" but instead to have enjoyed what you've been given! Isn't that what we have wanted all of this time?_

  
_Listen. Someone had to be prepared to take matters more seriously. A planet like that would never be able to survive an external threat! The least I could do is use my strength to protect others!_

  
_But they didn't need protecting! The fate of the world does not fall on your shoulders alone, Meta Knight!_

  
_The knight grimaced. Really? Because on Pop Star, it did._

  
\---

  
Several weeks have passed since the last "Dark Matter" incident, but King Dedede was not acting like himself. He spent most of his grumbling as he paced the hallways of his mountain castle, his mood having not improved at all despite Dreamland being safe once more. Another that was odd about the king is that he wasn't making eye contact with anyone, especially his waddle doo followers. They would always be the first ones dismissed from the weekly feast and the last ones called on patrol. However, one waddle doo in particular is not going to take this lightly.

  
"Great King. If I may have a word." Dooloo walked up to the king, placing her nubby hands on her sides.

  
"Um, what is it, Dooloo?" The King said, clearly adverting his eyes.

  
"Well sir, if you must know...I'M TIRED OF YOUR ATTITUDE!" The waddle doo screeched. "Don't you even think for a second that I haven't noticed. Oh yes! The way you keep shooing my waddle doos away, the way my waddle doos are always invited last for a feast, the way you can't even trust ME, the royal mage and champion of your court! I believe I deserve an explaination for this!" She said, sounding especially dramatic.

  
"Well you see-" He shielded a part of his vision with his hand as he turned his head closer to her. "It's just that find your, um, eye...kinda creepy!"

  
"Are you serious right now?" The one-eyed mage deadpanned. "After everything I've done for this kingdom, you dare to insult me!" She glared at the King with a righteous fury. "This kingdom would be nothing without me and waddle doos and yet this is how I am repaid!? She grabbed her wizard hat and tossed onto the floor.

  
"Listen, Dooloo. I'm sorry but-" The king stopped as he just had an idea. "Actually. You know what?" He picked up the hat and handed it back to waddle doo. "Why don't you take a break."

  
"P-pardon?"

  
"You know like a vacation!" He scratched his head. "You know, like, away from the castle." He said, his voice trailing off.

  
The doo stared at him for a moment. "Are you trying to fire me?"

  
"W-what?"

  
"Because it sounds like you want to fire me."

  
The King stumbled backwards. "No no no no no! That's not it! I just-"

  
The doo huffed. "Well, you know what!?" She stamped her foot on the ground. "Fine! I'll go!"

  
Dedede tried to follow after her her, but Dooloo stormed out the room too hastily for him to stop her. From behind him, Dedede heard a small voice. "Great King?" Dedede spun his head to see Banadana Dee looking at him with tears rolling down his cheeks.

  
"BD, I-"

  
"I-I can't believe you would fire Dooloo! She didn't do anything wrong!" Bandee took off his signature bandana and threw it to the ground. "That's it! I quit!"

  
The King's jaw dropped as he heard Bandee just say it. "Bandana! Y-you can't quit!"

  
The waddle dee glared at him. "I can't? But Dooloo is allowed to get fired?"

  
"I-"

  
The dee shook his head. "I'm sorry Great King! But you've changed! You're not the same person that gave us waddles a castle! I-" Tears were now flooding down his marshmallow-like face. "Dark Matter changed you! Permanently! And I can't bring myself to follow someone I can't trust, not even you!" And with that the waddle dee ran out of the room while Dedede just looked on in complete shock.

  
\---

  
Axe Knight quickly hid behind a corner as they heard footsteps approach them from behind the stonewall.

  
"I must thank you again for allowing me to stay at Castle Lololo."

  
A feminine voiced giggled. "Oh, don't worry about it, Mace Knight! Actually, I'm glad to have one of the Meta-Knights here! That means that if Dark Matter were to ever show up here, we'd have one of you protect us!"

  
"Of course, Lalala! Anything to repay your favor." Axe heard the distinct sound of a mace being slung. "Now if you'll excuse me. I'll be going on patrol for the evening. Good Night, Lalala."

  
"Good Night, Knight." Lalala giggled at her own pun, which Axe Knight couldn't help but roll their eyes. The axe wielding knight shifted back behind as they heard a pair of footsteps walk farther away, and another pair come closer. _Now's my chance!_

  
Axe Knight jumped out from behind one of the corners and parried their axe against the knight's signature mace.

  
"Axe Knight!? What are you-" Mace started before Axe loudly shushed them.

  
"Mace! Keep it down will ya'!"

  
The mace wielding knight stepped backwards and began to whisper. "Axe Knight! What are you doing here! You know that we're not allowed to talk to each other anymore!"

  
Axe flailed their hands. "I know, but this is really important, so please listen to me!"

  
Mace Knight looked behind them before nodding to Axe Knight. "Alright. But make it quick, I don't want us to get in trouble!"

  
Axe Knight nodded. "Don't worry, I will. Have you heard about the last Dark Matter incident?"

  
"Yeah, didn't King Dedede get possessed again?"

  
"Yep! He sure did! But get this; you know Bandana Dee and Dooloo Doo?"

  
"Bandana Dee is his most loyal waddle dee soldier and Dooloo was his best waddle doo mage, right? What about them?"

  
Axe got a cheeky smile on their face. "I heard that Dooloo got fired and Bandana quit! The King basically lost his two best followers! Isn't that great!"

  
Mace Knight slapped a palm over Axe Knight's mask. "Are you crazy!? You can't say things like that aloud! People will think we're planning on rebelling again!"

  
Axe Knight adjusted their helmet sheepishly. "R-right...Sorry, I just found it really funny is all..."

  
Mace sighed. "Listen, I know how amusing this is to you, but that also means there's a huge problem!"

  
Axe raised an eyebrow from behind their helmet. "Uh, what would that be?"

  
"Well, what exactly are we going to do if Meta Knight is banned, the Meta-Knights are broken up, and both Bandana Dee and Dooloo are gone when Dark Matter tries to attack us again?"

  
Axe's eyes widened. "Wait! You don't seriously think that Dark Matter is going to come back AGAIN, do you? I was one of the lucky ones! I really don't want to get possessed, too!"

  
"Well, Dark Matter has already tried to attack Popstar two times before, what's stopping it from trying a third time?" Axe Knight shuddered slightly, causing Mace to rush over to comfort them. "N-now, hold on! I didn't mean to freak you out, Axe!" Mace awkwardly put a hand on the other knight's shoulder. "There...there?"

  
Axe looked up to Mace. "No...no. You're right!" Axe Knight pumped a fist. "If Dark Matter shows up again, Kirby will probably beat it up again, and if he won't-" Axe Knight slung their axe over their shoulder. "T-then maybe I'll just save Popstar myself!"

  
Mace looked at Axe for a couple of moments before they began to giggle. "Yeah, and I'll be there with you when you do!"

  
Axe jumped. "You will!? But what about-"

  
Mace patted Axe's shoulder. "Who cares what Dedede says? Certainly not me or YOU! Now, how about you help me on my "knightly" patrol?"

  
"Oh, come on, Mace. You know I hate the "knight" jokes."

  
"Sure you do. Now, come on, Axe! Let's hit the town!" Mace Knight said, leading Axe onward to begin their patrol.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7 - Step 5: Go Beat Up Some Cosmic Horrors

  
Bandee stumbled on a rock on his way through Green Greens.  _Ugh. Maybe this was a bad idea._ The waddle dee shook his head. _But, I was just so tired of seeing Dedede act like that! Especially to our friends!_ The waddle dee sighed dejectedly as he continued to walk through the grassy plains. It's been so long since Bandee had been alone; he usually had the King, Dooloo, or the other waddle dees to keep him company, but now he found himself at a lost at what to do or where to go. Bandee always knew deep-down that he was follower and was very dependent on others, but with the King acting the way he was, Bandee couldn't bring himself to stay at the castle anymore. _What should I do? Where should I go? I don't really know anyone beyond Mt. Dedede._ The waddle dee was so wrought with worry that he didn't notice the black blob hovering torwards him.

  
\---

  
Ever since Hotbeat, Galaxia began to give Meta Knight the silence treatment again. The knight didn't particularly care, because he still had a quest to keep him busy. The knight had most recently arrived on the planet 'Mekkai'; a particularly peculiar planet. The planet was entirely cased with metal beams and plates, and there were circuits of electricty visible from within the cracks. It's almost like a planet sized version of the Halberd. Which was strange. Meta Knight had heard of planets made entirely out of metal before, but the steel plates had visible bolts in them; a clear sign that something sentient purposefully put them there. What also contributed to this, was that the walls would occasionally by imprinted with symbols resembling the letter 'H'; another sign that the planet was possibly artificially mechanized. _Does this planet even have a dream fountain?_ The knight pondered as flew through the planet's smokey skies.

  
Getting tired of all of the fumes in the clouds, Meta Knight decided that he should at least try to find a decent place to sleep, even though the entire planet gave off this obnoxious 'whirring' sound. As the knight glided down pass the fumes, he saw a rainbow aurora peek through the clouds. _Ah! There it is!_ Meta Knight landed in front of the fountain but when he raised his head he was shocked by what he saw.

  
In front of the fountain stood some sort of figure with bright pink hair and wearing some sort of 'horned' headphones, humming as they examined the fountain. As the figure heard Meta Knight land, their body spun like a top to reveal the figure's piercing electric blue eyes.

  
"My, my! I didn't expect to find an organic all of the way out here!" The figure said with a sing-song voice.

  
The masked knight tried to brush some of the grime off his cape. "Neither did I. Who are you?"

  
The figure bowed. "My name is Susie. I was merely trying to study this planet's dream fountain."

  
"I can see that. I take you are a-"

  
"A scientist?" The figure flipped their hair. "No, but my employer is. I thought that maybe if I was able to bring back some research regarding the Ancients' technology, I would be able to help him with his work, see?"

  
The puffball raised an eyebrow. "The Ancients?"

  
The figure's blue eyes blinked, or at least replicated what a blink looks like. "You've never heard of them? But their technology can be found all over the galaxy!"

  
Meta Knight thought for a moment that he knew something about the ancients, but the thought escaped from him. "N-no. At least I don't think I've had."

  
"I see." The figure mused for a moment. "Where do you come from?"

  
Meta Knight felt that that question was only asked because he might have given the stranger the impression that was from offbeat planet, but the knight replied anyways. "Planet Pop Star, why?" Meta Knight only just then realized that he just referred to Pop Star as his home, despite everything that Meta Knight has doing lately.

  
"Pop Star? Never heard of it. What's it like?"

  
"Well, it's very quaint, but in a lot of ways, there's no other planet like it."

  
The stranger looked at him, clearly seeming very intrigued.

  
"You see, from the time in which I spent on it, the planet is covered in magical artifacts; powerful artifacts, but its inhabitants are mostly very peaceful and friendly. You'd be hard pressed to find a planet more hospitable than Pop Star." _And yet I managed to get banned._ Meta Knight thought to himself as he continued.

  
The figure clapped their hands together. "Wow, and to think I've never heard of it before! I'll have to tell my boss about it; it sounds like a wonderful vacation spot!" The figure pulled out a transceiver of some kind and clicked a button. "Well, I should really get going. I don't want my boss to worry." The figure bowed her head. "Thank you, Sir Knight!" And with that, the pink-haired figure shifted away from the fountain.

  
Meta Knight got a brief unsettling feeling as he watched the figure drift away, but still hopped up to the fountain's pedestal and grabbed the wishing star, which the stranger apparently didn't notice. _I have a bad feeling about that person._

  
Suddenly, Galaxia hummed. _Oh, relax. You're just being a worry-wart._

  
\---

  
"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" An unfamiliar voice chirped.

  
Bandee rubbed his head and jumped when he saw Kirby and some strange fairy-like figure standing over him. "GAH! Kirby! What are you doing here?"

  
The pink puffball scratched his head. "Well, I was just helping Ribbon here find these crystal shard thingies when I saw you over here! I think you were being possessed by Dark Matter."

  
Bandee's eyes widened. "W-what!? I was-" The waddle dee gulped. "possessed?"

  
The fairy-person floated over. "I'm afraid so. Dark Matter is trying keep people away from the crystal shards, and now it's possessing anyone that stands in its way." The girl's voice began to trail off. "I'm so sorry. If I had been more careful with the crystal, this wouldn't have happened!"

  
"But it's going to be OK! I'm helping Ribbon collect the crystal shards again so she can get back home!" Kirby interjected, clearly trying to reassure his new companion.

  
"A crystal shard, huh?" Suddenly, Bandanna Dee recalled what he was doing before Dark Matter possessed him and reached down next him and showed Kirby a crystal blue prism. "It wouldn't happen to look something like this, would it?"

  
Ribbon gently gasped. "Yes! That's it! That's one of the shards!" The fairy girl grabbed the crystal shard and began to fiercely shake the waddle dee's hand. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

 

Kirby giggled. "Well, we should really get back to hunting for crystal shards. Would you like to help?"

  
Bandee blinked. "Who? Me? But I thought you didn't like me much, Kirby."

  
The puffball tilted his head looking dumbfounded. "What? What did I do to make you think that?"

  
"OH!" Bandanna Dee tried to place his arms over his hand to mimic his missing bandanna. "Uh, It's me. Bandanna Waddle Dee. You know, King Dedede's most loyal waddle dee...?" _Well, formerly._

  
Kirby blinked." OH! I didn't recognize you without your bandanna!" The puffball began to sheepishly scratch his head. "My bad."

  
"No, no. It's fine. I know us waddle dees are kinda hard to tell apart."

  
"Yeah but..." Kirby's eyes widened. "Wait! Why did you think I disliked you!?"

  
"W-what?"

  
"I don't hate you or Dedede!" The puffball said running up to Bandee. "Sure, we've had some tussles here and there, but I've never hated you guys!"

  
The waddle dee blinked. "Wow. I-I just never thought that..." Bandanna Dee nodded with renewed determination. "Alright! Sure! I'm going to help you find the crystal shards!"

  
"Really?" Ribbon said, her eyes sparkling.

  
Bandee nodded again. "Yeah! I owe Kirby way too many favors to count!" The waddle dee pumped a fist. "Now it's my turn to be helper to the hero!"

  
Kirby's face of confusion quickly changed to face of joy. "Alright!" Kirby cheered. "Let's get going then!"

  
And so, Bandanna and his newfound companions embarked on a new quest; a quest to help someone who wasn't just King Dedede.

  
\---

  
Once more, the wishing star crashed into another planet, but nothing could've prepared Meta Knight for what he saw upon landing on it. The planet...was nonexistent. Instead, Meta Knight found himself on a floating hunk of rock floating among a cloud of pure, glittering stardust. _Is this...Halfmoon?_ From what he could recall, the Planet known as Halfmoon was a planet composed of star dust; similar to Pop Star, but for some reason, after a certain point in history, any mention of the planet just...stopped. And I think I can gather why. Meta Knight always figured that some disaster had befallen Halfmoon; that was actually one of his concerns when he embarked on his quest. The last dream fountain in the galaxy was supposed to be on Halfmoon, and if by chance the planet was destroyed, Meta Knight's journey through the galaxy would have been for naught. _And It still might be, if the rest of the planet looks like this._  
Meta Knight closed his eyes. _No. If there's even a chance that the Dream Fountain and Wishing Star are still in tack, I'll scour every last speck of dust of this planet to find them._ Meta Knight half expected a reply from Galaxia, but the only thing that answered him was silence.  
The knight flipped his cape and leapt up to the next floating rock.

  
\---

  
"Is she alright?" Bandanna asked as he saw Ribbon crouch over the unconscious human girl.

  
Bandanna had joined Kirby and the fairy girl known as Ribbon on their quest to collect these crystal shards that had fallen all over Pop Star. On their way passing through the autumnal woods, they found a human painter who had found a crystal shard, and was found by Dark Matter. Unfortunately, the girl was possessed but Kirby was able to knock the Dark Matter out of her...hopefully.

  
"What...What happened?" The dark haired girl said as she began to come to. Her eyes lit up when she saw Kirby. "Hey, don't I-"

  
"OH! I know you! You're Ado, right?" Kirby chirped.

  
The girl looked up as if trying to recall something. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, I am! But I go by Adeleine now!" The girl pushed herself back on her feet and it was made quite clear to Bandanna Dee that she quite tall as she towered over the rest of the group. "And you're Kirby, right? I remember you! You saved me from Dark Matter the last time!" Adeleine started to scratch the back of her neck. "And I guess this time, too." The girl's brown eyes widened as if she just remembered something. "Hey, if you guys are trying to stop Dark Matter again, you should probably know something."

  
"What is it?" Ribbon asked.

  
Adeleine pointed her paintbrush in the direction of Mt. Dedede. "I saw a large black cloud over the castle. I bet that that means King Dedede has probably been possessed again, too."

  
Bandanna Dee swallowed. _She's probably right. And knowing the King, if a crystal shard fell near the mountain, he'd probably try to keep it for himself._ The waddle dee's eyes drooped. _Maybe if I stayed at the castle, I'd might have been able to protect the king._

  
Bandanna's internal monologue was cut off by a grumbling sound coming from Kirby. "You're probably right, Adeleine." The puffball then proceeded to yawn. "But I'm so tired after all of the adventuring I've done today." The puffball sat down on a clump of fallen leaves. "Let's take a break before trying to go all the way to the castle."

  
"Oh! I know just the thing!" Adeleine grabbed her canvas and immediately started to furiously paint something. Before Bandee could inquire about what she was drawing, a complete picnic popped out of canvas and fell in front of the group. "Why don't we have a quick lunch before you have to go save the King?"

  
Kirby's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head as he saw the picnic. "Wow! Thanks, Adeleine!" Just as Kirby opened his mouth to inhale the entire meal whole, Bandanna and Ribbon quickly pounced on him.

  
"Kirby! You have save some for us, too!" Ribbon cried as she tried to hold the hungry puffball back.

Bandanna Dee couldn't help but be reminded of Dooloo having to hold back Dedede from eating an entire royal feast at the castle. _I know that Dedede hasn't been himself lately, but I'm not about to have Dark Matter be playing puppet master again._  
\---  
Bandanna Dee, Ribbon and Adeleine ran after Kirby as they ascended up the staircase leading to the roof of Castle Dedede, where supposedly it's King was waiting, along with another crystal shard. The castle had recieved several remodels over the years, mostly in hopes of keeping a certain pink puffball out, but Bandanna Dee was able to lead the group into the castle fairly quickly using numerous secret shortcuts. When the four arrived at the castle's roof, the King was looking out to the horizon, completely disregarding the arrival of the group.

  
"Is-is he alright?" Ribbon whispered as the group carefully stepped closer to Dedede.

  
"He's probably fine, but he only gets like this when he's been possessed by Dark Matter." Kirby replied.

  
"Just how often does this happen?" Ribbon asked. Ribbon had mentioned that she was a servant to the Ripple Queen once or twice. Bandanna Dee felt a drop of sweat go down his head. _I hope she doesn't have the impression that the waddle dees are bad at their job._

  
"Probably more times than he cares to admit." Adeleine responded. _That too, Adeleine._

  
"Just stand back. I'll try to see if I can talk to him." Kirby interjected as he waddled over to the King.

  
"Do you think this will work." Adeleine whispered to the waddle dee.

  
"Probably not." The waddle dee admitted. "Kirby always tries to talk his opponents down first, but it never works. Take Meta Knight for example."

  
"Meta Knight? Who's that?" Ribbon asked.

  
"Meta Knight was the leader of the Meta-Knights." Bandee saw the puzzled expression of Ribbon's face. "Yes, it's confusing I know." The waddle dee continued. "The Meta-Knights used to help out and protect Dreamland."

  
"Yeah." Adeleine started. "Wasn't Meta Knight protecting one of the Star Rod pieces? Whatever happened to him?"

  
"Well, Meta Knight actually tried to overthrow King Dedede; and it was serious, too! He had this massive battleship called the Halberd; we didn't stand a chance!" The waddle dee quickly glanced over to Kirby. "That's when I asked Kirby for help. He said that he was going to try to talk to Meta Knight, but nothing ever came of it. Kirby then single-handedly destroyed the Halberd and that was when King Dedede banished Meta Knight from Dreamland!"

  
"Huh." Adeleine deadpanned. "So what you're telling me is King Dedede banished this super-talented knight-"

  
"Uh-huh."

  
"And since then, Dreamland has been under constant attack from Dark Matter?" Ribbon continued.

  
"Yeah..?"

  
"So...what do you think would've happened had Meta Knight not have been banished?" The human girl asked.

  
Before Bandanna Dee could respond, the three were cut off by the sound of a small explosion and turned to see King Dedede's limp body floating in the air, with a giant, toothy mouth dripping black goo on the area where his stomach should be.

  
Adeleine opened her mouth. "Because it sounds like we could really use a knight right about now."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight's solid path further into Halfmoon came to an abrupt end. The hunk of rock he stood on went no further and there was no other piece of solid earth in sight. Hesitantly, the knight sat down on the rock where he stood, as he had been traveling for a long time without a break. While there were hostile inhabitants wandering on the planet's debris, from what he saw, there was no sign of infrastructure or even plant life. The debris of Halfmoon was completely barren, and there was no dream fountain to be found. _What could've caused this amount of destruction?_ The knight questioned as he looked on into the starry sky.

  
_I know what you're thinking, but it wasn't Dark Matter._ Galaxia's voice broke the silence.

  
The puffball sighed. _I know that. Dark Matter's motivation is to control planets, not to destroy them._

  
_I know. I just thought that you might have been projecting a little._

  
Meta Knight winced as he heard Galaxia's response. _Now is hardly the time to be thinking about 'that'._

  
_But you are._ Galaxia replied. _You can't help it. Even you are incapable of distancing yourself from what happened with Planet Light Star._

  
The knight let out a quite scoff.

  
_So, are you ready to give up on this quest and go home?_ Galaxia asked.

  
_What? Do you want to me?_

  
_No._ Galaxia began to glow with a gentle light. _Bring me over to that edge over there. Let me see what I can do._

  
Meta Knight got back up on his feet and hold Galaxia forwards as he approached the edge of the platform. Galaxia's light began to reflect off of some of the stars floating out in the distance. The stars began to glow brighter and brighter until they formed a glistening bridge.

  
_Follow those stars._ Galaxia hummed.

  
_Will they even lead me anywhere?_

  
_All roads go somewhere, Meta Knight. And considering we have no other paths to follow, we might as well take what we can get._

  
Meta Knight cautiously flapped down the starry road, landing on a surprisingly solid surface. _Alright then. Let's get moving._

  
\---

  
"Are you serious?" Dedede grumbled as he woke up once more to see a familiar pink puffball looking down on him with a concerned look on his bubblegum-pink face. The king slowly got back on his feet, still feeling incredibly dazed. "So what? This is the third time Dark Matter decided to possess me?"

Dedede cut off his complaining when he saw Bandanna Waddle Dee over in the distance with two humanoids Dedede didn't recognize. "You!?" The King stomped over to the waddle dee. "What are you doing here!? I thought you quit!"

  
"Nice to see you too, Oh Great King." Bandanna deadpanned.

  
"Hey! That's no way to talk to someone who just saved you!" The humanoid wearing the red beret retorted.

  
The king raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? And just who are you?"

  
Before the artist and the king could have a tussle, Kirby quickly ran up and broke the group apart. "Hey! King Dedede, play nice! These are friends, Adeleine and Ribbon, and they just helped me help you, so can you try to not start a fight?" The puffball pleaded.

  
Both Dedede and Adeleine let out scoffs while Ribbon floated over to the king. "Um. Excuse me, Your Majesty. But I was wondering if I could have that crystal shard you have there?" She said, pointing to the blue prism in King Dedede's hand.

  
"Sorry missy, finder's keepers, loser's-" Before Dedede could finish his childish comeback, Bandanna quickly swiped the shard out of his hand. "Hey!"

  
"Sorry, Great King. But we kinda really need this." Bandanna replied as Kirby began to puff himself up and float over to the edge of the roof.

  
"BD! I'm going to take Adeleine and Ribbon back down! You and Dedede can come if you want!" Kirby called out.

  
_Me? Why does Kirby want to me to follow along?_ Dedede thought, grinding his teeth.

  
Suddenly, Bandana Dee tugged on the end of Dedede's robe. "C'mon, Your Highness. It's just one picnic!"

  
Dedede indignantly turned his head away. "No thanks. I don't hang out with my greatest rival or traitors."  
The waddle dee sighed. "Fine then. Suit yourself." The waddle dee then jumped off the roof landing on Kirby's balloon like form and began to float downwards.

  
Dedede began tapping his foot. _Why in the world does Bandanna want to hang out with me? I thought he hated me! Kirby, too. The King quickly glanced behind him. Is this some kind of joke or something? They don't honestly expect me-_

  
Dedede's thoughts were cut off by Kirby's voice calling out to him. "C'mon, Dedede! Last one to the picnic is a rotten egg!"

  
Dedede grit his teeth as he decided to do something he thought he'd never do. "Hey! Wait up!" The penguin king jumped off the castle to follow Kirby and the others.

  
\---

  
Dedede stumbled as he fell to the grassy plain lying below Mt. Dedede. There, he saw Kirby, Bandana Dee, Adeleine and Ribbon happily eating a picnic.

  
"Hey! You're here!" Kirby enthusiastically waved to the King. "Don't worry! Adeleine painted enough food for all of us!"

  
Before Dedede could question the absurdity of Kirby's last statement, a saw a sandwich be handed to him by an orange nub. "C'mon, Your Highness! Have a bite to eat!"

  
Dedede hesitantly raised the sandwich to his beak and took a bite. "So, uh...Dark Matter again, huh?"

  
Kirby nodded. "Yup! But It's not just Pop Star this time!"

  
"The creature you call 'Dark Matter' just attacked my home planet, Ripple Star." Ribbon explained, drawing a crystal shard from a pocket in her red dress. "It was trying to destroy the Ripple Crystal, so my Queen sent me away with it in order to protect it. But-" The fairy girl's face contorted as she began to choke up.

  
"But the crystal shattered. So we're helping Ribbon find the rest of the shards!" Adeleine continued before putting a hand on Ribbon's shoulder.

  
"OK? But what does Dark Matter want with the crystal?" Dedede said, rubbing his chin. "I mean, these crystal shards seem to be pretty...luminescent. Not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you picture Dark Matter." _Not to mention, I'm speaking from experience here._

  
"Well, the Ripple Crystal had a sort of protective magic. So I think that maybe Dark Matter is trying to destroy the crystal because its...afraid of it?" Ribbon said, clearly aware that her explanation sounded a little far-fetched.

  
"Huh." The King continued to chew on his sandwich. "So any idea how to find these shards?"

  
Ribbon took a deep breath and grasped the shard in both of her hands. "Usually, I try to follow the light of stars to guide me to a shard." She opened her eyes again. "But I'm having trouble finding anymore shards on this planet."

  
"But the Crystal still isn't complete?" Adeleine inquired.

  
Ribbon frowned. "Unfortunately. I'm honestly at a lost at what to do next."

  
At some point during the conversation, Kirby must have gotten up at some point to wander around, because now the pink puffball was looking over to Whispy's Woods. "Well, when in doubt, I always go ask Whispy Woods for advice!"

  
The group immediately jumped up to follow Kirby, Dedede included, until Bandanna Dee stopped him.

"Your Highness? You're coming with us?"

  
"Yeah. Might as well, right?"

  
"B-but, you hate Kirby."

  
The King rolled his eyes. "Ehhh...I wouldn't say hate him. Kirby's fine. Also I-" Dedede started to stutter. "I've been getting kinda tired of sitting in the castle all day and I-" The king sighed. "I'm...honestly getting...kinda lonely."

  
The waddle dee blinked. "Well, if you're so lonely, why not stick with us?"

  
Dedede's eyes dilated. "R-really?"

  
Bandana nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! If what Ribbon said was true, the entire galaxy might be in danger! That means i'ts all hands on deck! And whose hands are more capable that that of our king's?" The waddle dee said slyly.

  
He would never admit it, but Dedede felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. "You..." The king scooped the waddle dee up in a bear-hug. "BD! You're the best!"

  
The waddle dee awkwardly chuckled. "You really think so?"

  
Dedede placed the waddle dee back on the ground. "Of course! Only you could put up with me being such a jerk and still want to be my friend."

  
"Your Majesty, I can promise you that no matter how much of a jerk you can be-" Bandanna Dee saluted. "I will always be your number-one dee."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this arc is going longer than expected. also updates might have to slow down a little so I can work on schoolwork.


	8. Still Beating Up Cosmic Horrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this chapter, Meta Knight is bad at video games and Dedede adopts several children.

  
After traversing further through the broken stardust of Planet Halfmoon, Meta Knight found himself on a surprisingly large chunk of wasteland, the largest piece of the planet he had encountered so far. The space beyond shimmered with a technicolor aurora, unlike anything else the knight had seen on the crumbled planet.

  
_That aurora...Is it what I think it is?_

  
Galaxia hummed. The light from a dream fountain? _It's certainly possible. Let's keep moving and get a closer look._

  
The masked knight continued to march. _Galaxia. I know what I'm going to wish for._

  
_A duel, correct?_

  
The puffball nodded. _Indeed. I want to have a great test for my abilities. Something to push me to my limits._

  
_Hmm. And do you know how you're going to word it?_

  
The knight scowled. _What do you mean? I'm going to ask for a test of my abilities!_

  
_But that could mean anything! What if the clockwork star decides that the test should be the end of the galaxy as we know it?_

  
_F-fine. I'll ask for a test worthy of a knight of my caliber._

  
Galaxia's detached voice sighed. _Clearly, you and I have different opinions on just how strong you are._

  
_What does that mean?_

  
_Nothing. I just want you to be careful is all._

  
The knight kept walking. Frankly, Galaxia was starting to get on his nerves. Galaxia clearly had some strong opinions about Meta Knight's quest, but she wasn't exactly telling Meta Knight what those opinions are. It's particularly hard having a psychic companion, because you had to be just as careful about what you thought as what you say. The knight's pace picked up as he kept walking. I could really use something to duel right now. Is what Meta Knight thought before he felt his head hit an invisible wall. What in the stars-

  
Galaxia vibrated. _Meta Knight. Point me forwards!_

  
Meta Knight followed Galaxia's command and pointed her forwards. Her golden light refracted off of a clear shimmering wall, which began to trace an image of some sort of wizard.

  
_I've heard of one of these!_ Galaxia exclaimed. It's a Halcandran Computer Program Panel! _These used to be used as a sort of 'video game' console._

  
_Sounds like a load of hogwash to me._ The knight said flatly. _Is it dangerous?_

  
_Typically no, but considering how old this program must be by now; it's sure to be loaded with glitches and bugs, and if this program works like how I remember it-_

  
Galaxia's explaination was cut off when the pixelated wizard popped out of the command window and released a wall of fire.

  
_All I needed was a yes or no answer!_ Meta Knight told Galaxia, as he assumed a fighting stance.

  
\---

  
"Alright. If I'm correct, we've collected all of the shards on Rock Star." Ribbon said as she pocketed the group's most recently obtained piece of crystal.

  
"But the crystal is still far from complete, right?" Adeleine asked, painting a commemorative landscape painting of the alien planet.

  
Ribbon solemnly nodded. "Yes. The full crystal is about three times the size we have now."

  
"So we might have to go to another planet?" Bandanna Dee inquired.

  
"Maybe more! Isn't that exciting?" Kirby added cheerfully, blissfully unaware of Ribbon's concerns.

  
"Sure, If you like getting sand and rocks stuck in your royal robes." Dedede said, shaking his robe down. "If we're going to another planet, let's hope it isn't all rocks and rubble."

  
"Aww...But we had fun exploring the ruins, didn't we, Dedede?" The puffball said, dancing around the king gleefully.

  
"I liked the ruins." Adeleine interjected. "I thought it was very interesting to look at those ancient hieroglyphs."

  
Dedede was about to say something when Kirby started beckoning the others to follow him. "C'mon! Let's try to find another portal! Maybe it will take us to the other crystal shards!"

  
The others quickly gathered their things and began to follow after the pink puffball. Dedede decided to walk besides to Kirby. "So, uh...Kirbs?" The king said awkwardly.

  
"Hm?"

  
"Uh...thanks for letting me tag along, and all."

  
The puffball looked at him. "Oh! It's no problem at all! I'm happy to have you along!"

  
Dedede scratched the back of his neck."Oh. Well, thanks I guess."

  
Kirby looked at him for a second. "Are...Are you OK, Dedede?"

  
"What? Of course I am!" He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think I'm not? I'm a king!"

  
The puffball raised a nub up to his face. "I don't know. I just think that being a king must be kinda lonely."

  
"Lonely!? I'm never lonely! I have tons of friends! All my waddle dees and-"

  
"Do you have any friends that don't work for you?"

  
Dedede's beak shut closed, before he tried speaking again. "I-"

  
Kirby didn't seem to pay attention that much, as he asked another question immediately. "What was it like when Dark Matter was possessing you?" The puffball looked down with a distant look in his sky-blue eyes. "I've never been possessed by Dark Matter, but it sounds scary."

  
_I've...never seen Kirby look like this. What did he see when he tried to fight Dark Matter last time?_ Dedede thought of white orb with the red eye he saw when Dark Matter came back the first time. _I keep forgetting that Kirby is just a little kid. Is he...actually afraid of Dark Matter?_ Dedede didn't know what he was thinking when he put a hand on Kirby's head. "Don't worry about me, puffball. That freaky black blob doesn't scare me at all, and it shouldn't scare you either!" The king said with a grin.

  
Kirby looked at him with a blank expression on his face before regaining his trademark smile. "OK. Thank you, Dedede!"

  
"Anytime, squirt."

  
\---

  
"BATTLE PROGRAM...COMPLETE." A robotic voice replied, followed by the computer program window to blink out of sight.

  
Meta Knight kneeled down to catch his breath. _Remind me to never pick a fight with a computer ever again._

  
Galaxia glimmered. _Aw...What's wrong, little knight? Was the big-bad computer program too much for you?_ Her voice said condescendingly.

  
_Of course not. I just thought that that fight was unnecessarily complicated._

  
_What, do you have problems with turn based combat?_

  
Meta Knight rolled his eyes. _Ugh, forget it. Let's just go to the dream fountain._

  
_And finally bring this adventure to a close._

  
\---

  
"Dedede! Look out!"

  
Dedede looked up to see a red-hot rock falling down towards him. Instinctively, he twirled twirled out of the way, however, several blistering pebbles hit his face afterwards.  
The king shut his eyes. "Kirby! Are you alright?"

  
The pink puff gripped tighter to Dedede's robe. "Y-yeah! I'm fine!"

  
Ribbon hovered over the Dedede and Kirby. "M-maybe this was a bad idea! I'm sure we can find another way up the mountain!" The ground rumbled as more lava spewed out from the volcano.

  
"We already tried to find another way! The only way we'll be able to get that crystal shard is to climb up the volcano!" Dedede replied.

  
"But, what if you get hurt?" The fairy girl hastily asked.

  
"Me and Dedede will be alright! And if we get hurt really bad, we can just have Adeleine paint us some Maxim Tomatoes! We'll be fine!" Kirby asserted. "Alright, Dedede. Ready to get moving?"

  
"Don't rush me, pipsqueak." Dedede said with a smirk before running off again.

  
\---

  
"I told you it was a bad idea!" Ribbon cried as Adeleine quickly painted away at her canvas. Bandanna Dee was holding on to Dedede's robe as Kirby tied a bandage to one of Dedede's flippers(?).

  
Dedede let out a cough. "Yeah, well, I thought that me and Kirby could handle it! So...oops."

  
More tears started to well up in Ribbon's crystal-blue eyes as Adeleine handed the king a tomato. "Alright doofuses, here's the food."

  
Dedede chucked the tomato down his beak as Ribbon fluttered over to him. "Why aren't you being more careful! Both you and Kirby knew that climbing a volcano is dangerous!"

  
Kirby took a bite out of his tomato. "I know, but it was the only way we could get the crystal shard!"

  
Suddenly, Ribbon's face shifted from fear to anger. "Who cares! The crystal shard isn't more important than yourselves! The Ripple Crystal isn't worth innocent people getting hurt!" Realizing what she was saying, Ribbon's face contorted once more. "I-I'm...I'm s-sorry." The fairy quickly spun around and flew off.

  
"Ribbon!" Adeleine tried to call out to her, but the fairy was already gone.

  
Bandanna Dee shifted slightly. "I...I've never seen Ribbon act like that."

  
"Me neither." Kirby said, looking deeply concerned. "I...Did I say something to make her upset?"

  
Dedede pushed himself off the ground. "I dunno. I'm gonna go talk to her."

  
Bandanna Dee's eyes widened. "What? Great King, I don't think this is a good idea! You're not exactly the best at...reassuring people."

  
"Personally, I think it's best if we just give her a bit of space, right now." Adeleine added. "I've NEVER seen Ribbon like this; maybe she's just overwhelmed."

  
Dedede knew that both Bandanna Dee and Adeleine were right, but he still wanted to do something. "I know. But I just want to try."

  
Dedede walked around the corner of the volcanic cave and saw Ribbon holding her face in hands. "Ribbon? Are you OK?"

  
The fairy-girl lifted her reddened face and tried to hold back another sob. "Y-your M-m-majesty?"

  
"Just...call me 'Dedede'" The king said, plopping down next to her. "Is everything alright?"

  
The girl let out another sob. "I-I-I-" She started to pull down on her pastel-pink hair. "Why is everyone trying so hard to help me?"

  
"What do you mean?"

  
"All of this is entirely my fault. I-I messed up! I doomed my kingdom! Why are so many people desperate to help ME fix MY mistakes!" She pressed her head against her knees and her breathing began to steady. "My queen trusted me with something super important, and I failed her within fifteen minutes! Why-" Her blue eyes looked up at Dedede. "What have I done to deserve help from some many people, including a king?"

  
Dedede looked at the fairy girl for a moment. "What kinda king do you think I am?"

  
Ribbon brushed a strand of hair off of her face. "What kind of king?" She looked away for a second. "Well, I thought that you were a nice king. The moment everyone thought that you were in danger, we all rushed to the castle! Especially Bandee! He was literally tearing the castle apart so we could help you!" She raised her head. "Not to mention all of your loyal subjects! Those Bronto Bursts and Scarfies in the castle were willing to fight for you, you know! Also, you know how Bandee always addresses you as 'Great King'? So yes, I'd say that you're pretty nice!"

  
Dedede started to chuckle. "Listen, as flattering as all of that was, I know I'm not a good king."

  
"Why?"

  
The king smirked. "Kirby hasn't told you? I used to steal food all of the time! I once broke an ancient artifact that almost caused the end of my kingdom. I was so bad at being a king, that a guy that worked for me tried to overthrow me!" Dedede smacked the ground. "And you really think that I'm a good king?"

  
Ribbon stared at him for several seconds looking stunned. "It's just that..." She brought her face up to her knees again. "You've always been so nice to me. I'd hardly call someone who is willing to climb up a volcano for my sake a bad person." She looked at him with a weak smile. "In a lot ways you remind me of Queen Ripple. I-" She turned her face away again. "I really miss her. I miss home. I'm tired of seeing people get hurt because of me."

  
Dedede put a hand on her tiny shoulder. "I think that we would have done this anyways, regardless of whether or not you asked us to. We've been to - what? Four planets now? And each of them were taken over by Dark Matter. I don't know if this will make you feel better or not, but this isn't all about you. The entire galaxy is at risk! And I feel like we need to do something about it." The king stood up. "Frankly, the Crystal Shards sound like the best chance we got at saving the galaxy, so I say 'let's find them all!'. Better that than be Dark Matter's puppet again."

  
Ribbon wiped her sleeve over her eyes. "I-" Suddenly, she flew over and hugged Dedede. "Thank you, Dedede! I'll-" She let go as she began to smile. "I'll keep going! We need to find the rest of shards! So let's do it together!"

  
"That's my girl! C'mon!" He turned around. "Let's go get Adeleine paint you a bite to eat!"

  
Ribbon nodded.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight dashed over to the last dream fountain. Like all of the fountains before it, the fountain was constructed of this glossy pearl-like material and spewed a fountain of light. Upon the pedestal, was a star rod, and hovering above the fountain was a sparkling, golden, wishing star.

  
_It's amazing that despite everything that happened to Halfmoon, the dream fountain still remains in tact._ Galaxia mused.

  
_These ancient fountains can be found all over this side of the solar system and have managed to survive for generations. This really shouldn't be a surprise._ Meta Knight asserted.

  
_Still, it has to be somewhat reassuring to see that your lonely journey has not been for naught._

  
Meta Knight didn't reply as he continued to approach the fountain. The knight gracefully leaped on top of the fountain and flipped his cape, causing it to twist and contort to form two webbed wings. The wings propelled the puffball further, until he finally grabbed the wishing star with his hand.

  
_Take me to the clockwork sun at the center of the system._

  
The star then launched itself into the space beyond.

  
\---

  
Adeleine stared blankly at the abandoned, snow covered building on the side of the frosty street.

  
"What's wrong, 'Leine?" Bandanna asked.

  
Adeleine frowned. "It's strange. This planet was clearly inhabited at some point in time, but the only thing we've encountered are machines."

  
Kirby stopped next to Adeleine. "Really? I didn't even notice!" With that, Kirby and Bandanna Dee kept walking but Adeleine stayed where she was.

  
"C'mon, Adeleine. Let's get moving." Dedede said as he walked by, but the girl stayed put. Dedede crossed his arms. "Hey! Did you hear me? Let's go already!"

  
Adeleine turned around and ran to the rest of the group, still not emoting much. "S-sorry." Several moments followed before Adeleine spoke up again. "I...noticed something strange in that building back there."

  
"What was it?" Bandanna asked.

  
"I saw...some kind of poster."

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "What's so special about a poster?"

  
Adeleine adjusted her hat. "Nothing really, but the poster..." She bit her thumb. "It showed people that looked like me."

  
The rest of the group turned around and looked at her.

  
"You know? Like humans." She elaborated.

  
Kirby tilted his head. "Do you think humans used to live here?"

  
The girl lowered her head. "Maybe. I don't actually know a lot about human history."

  
Several moments of silence passed before Kirby spoke up. "Well, I've never seen another of kind ever! Wait, no...that's actually a lie." He said, contemplating something.

  
Dedede opened his beak. "Wait, you've met another puffball before!?"

  
"Um...well, I think I did..." The puffball scratched his head. "But I don't really know for certain, and I doubt he'd even tell me if he were."

  
"Wait, is this someone we know...?" Dedede continued, causing Kirby to jump slightly.

  
"W-what? No!" The puffball then turned away and began to whisper to himself, while Dedede turned to Bandanna Dee.

  
"So Kirby just lied to us, right?"

  
The waddle dee scratched his head. "Trust me, Sir. I'm just as much in the dark as you are!" The dee looked away. "I don't have a clue who this other puffball could be."

  
"Are you sure you don't know?" Adeleine interrupted. "Maybe you guys are just remembering something wrong."

  
The king raised his head with defiance. "I'm just saying I'd think I'd know if my greatest rival had a secret relative running around."

  
The human girl chuckled. "Are you sure that you and Kirby are still rivals? To me, you're more like his baby-sitter!"

  
"What!? I am not-" Dedede was cut off when he turned to see Kirby climbing some giant craned-vehicle. "KIRBY! GET DOWN THAT, NOW! IT COULD BE DANGEROUS!"

  
Both Adeleine and Bandanna Dee began to howl with laughter.

  
\---

The masked knight leaped off the wishing star as it began to decelerate. Suddenly, Meta Knight saw the other wishing stars appear, as they began to join in a circle. As the stars became unified, they each started to glow with their own color and began circling around faster and faster. At the center of the circle, Meta Knight could see a brilliant light beginning to grow larger. The light grew to an immeasurable size, and the puffball could feel a tight tugging sensation coming from within it. Finally, the light faded, and all that was there was a floating cloud of mechanical rubble.

  
_I...what...?_

  
_That...that's impossible._ Galaxia's murmured. _The-_

  
_The clockwork sun...It's been destroyed!_

  
_That's impossible!_ Galaxia began to glow with a fiery aura. _A Halcandran Star is impossible to destroy! It's shell should be impenetrable and it's programmed to defend itself!_  Meta Knight imagined that Galaxia was glaring. _What could have caused this!?_

  
Meta Knight looked out at the debris, still stunned in shock. _I...I came all this way...for a pile of rubble?_ The knight glided closer to heap of broken machinery. The Halcandran Clockwork Star seemed to have been made up of gold and platinum, but there were some curious accessories among the debris as well; such as what appeared to be giant piano keys, and a telescope, a pocket watch, and a weather vein. What's with all the nonsensical accessories? Meta Knight's eyes were then drawn to what appeared to be a crystalline heart. The knight was still a fair distance away from it, but he felt an immense amount of heat and pressure as he approached it.

  
_Careful, little knight. That crystal appears to be some sort of power generator. I'd stay clear of it if I were you._ Galaxia's voice echoed in the puffball's mind.

  
The knight tried to fly around the heart. _Galaxia. You were from Halcandra, are you sure that the Clockwork Stars were invincible?_

  
_Nothing is absolute, but The Clockwork Stars are able to complete any calculation. The idea that one could be destroyed in hard to imagine._

  
Meta Knight raised an eyebrow. _Didn't they say the same thing about Halcandra itself?_

  
Galaxia seemed to ignore Meta Knight's last remark. _I suppose its possible that the Star was asked to destroy itself. I also wonder what might've happened if a wishing star was shot through it._

  
Meta Knight's attention was grabbed by another crystalline structure. _Hey, what's that?_ knight drifted closer to the prism. The prism was slightly larger than Meta Knight and was magenta in color. Similar to the heart he saw earlier, the prism exuded a strong amount of pressure, but it was different somehow. Meta Knight didn't know why, but something about the presence was...familiar. The knight flew closer and his mouth went agape as he saw what was in the center of the prism. Within the prism, was masked figure with glorious, feathered wings. The figure's white gloves were gripped firmly on a magenta javelin and a shield as their red eyes stared off into space, emotionless.  
Meta Knight felt his mind race back to a book he remembered studying in his youth, back when he first arrived on Pop Star. _This...this is Galacta Knight!_

  
Galaxia flashed. _Meti! Step back! This is too dangerous! Galacta Knight-_

  
Meta Knight would've reacted to Galaxia calling him by his real name if he wasn't so fixated on the figure before him. _Was the strongest warrior in the galaxy..._

  
_And has the power to demolish planets! Meti, we've gone too far! We must leave this place at once!_  Galaxia's voice boomed.

  
The puffball's silver eyes narrowed as he pointed Galaxia at the prism. _And pass up on an opportunity like this?_ Meta Knight felt the blade begin to swell up with a burning power. _Not a chance._ The knight took in a deep breath, and spoke aloud for the first time in months. "I wish to fight to the strongest warrior in the galaxy."

  
\---

  
"Thank each and everyone of you for what you did for my kingdom." The taller fairy with the glasses said with tired smile.

  
"Aw, shucks! You don't have to thank us, Your Majesty!" Bandanna Dee said, awkwardly scratching his head. "We just wanted to help Ribbon, that's all!"

  
The Ripple Queen giggled. "And how lucky we are that you did. Now that Miracle Matter has been defeated, my kingdom can now once return to prosperity."

  
Ribbon bowed her head. "Of course, My Queen." She looked up to Adeleine, Bandanna Waddle Dee, King Dedede and Kirby with shimmering, blue eyes. "Thank each of you for everything you've done for me."

  
"Of course, Ribbon." Adeleine said taking Ribbon's tiny hands into her own. "That's what friends are for!"

  
The fairy queen drifted over to the group. "Well, I'm sure that you all must be getting back to your home now. And I'd certainly hate to keep you for longer than necessary." The queen began to abruptly shoo the group away with her sleeves. "Go on now!"

  
"Wait!" Ribbon flew in front of the taller fairy girl. "Your Majesty! They don't have to leave so soon! Certainly they should be allowed to stay for the banquet! Or perhaps a ceremony!" Ribbon continued.

  
"No, no! I insist!" The Queen said, continuing to shoo the travelers away.

  
"Actually, I wouldn't mind to stay for a little while longer!" Kirby said, somewhat confused by the Queen's persistence.

  
"Me too!" Bandee said, nodding.

  
"Since when have I been one to say no to an opportunity for free food?" Dedede said.

  
The fairy queen grit her teeth. "No. I insist."

  
Ribbon flew to the Queen's side. "Your Majesty, is something wrong?"

  
Dedede watched as some sort darkness began to fold over the other fairy girl's face. _Wait...Something's not right here..._ The king cleared his throat. "Queen Ripple, listen, as Dreamland's King, I can promise you that we really don't have anywhere else to be right now! And we'd all really hate to leave without saying our proper goodbye's to Ribbon."

  
The Queen paused for a moment and than began to float over to Dedede, and began to whisper with a sinister smile. "You're not the one in control here."

  
Dedede stood stunned for a second before he saw a black blob began to fester from the Queen's back; a blob with a familiar red eye. "D-Dark-" The king grabbed Ribbon and swept her behind him. "Everyone, get back!"

  
"Dark Matter!" Kirby yelled as the blob sank back in to the Queen's back.

  
"NO! My Queen!" Ribbon cried out as the dark mass began to swirl around the Ripple Queen's form.

  
Suddenly, the sky above Ripple Star was once more drenched and darkness, and the queen rose further into the inky clouds above.

  
There was a moment of awkward silence before Bandanna's voice spoke. "What now?"

  
Ribbon fell to her knees. "My...my Queen. How did this...But we...we defeated Miracle Matter."

  
Adeleine crouched down next to the fairy as Dedede twirled his hammer with a look on contempt on his face. "Seems that no matter what we do, Dark Matter keeps coming back for more."

  
"Not this time!" The group turned there heads to see Kirby holding a transceiver with a star-tipped antenna.

  
"Kirby, what the heck is that?" Before Dedede's question could be answered, Kirby was already speaking dialing the phone furiously.

  
After Kirby dialed the last digit, Adeleine walked over to him. "Kirby, what did you just-" She was then cut off by the sound of Kirby's Warp Star crashing into the earth next to her, thankfully avoiding hitting anyone.

Before anyone could ask what just happened, Kirby jumped on the star and gestured for the rest of the group to follow him. "C'mon, you guys! Let's stop Dark Matter for good!" The group looked at each other and nodded before hopping onto the star, that began to lift off into the dark abyss above.

 

 

 


	9. Finally Beating Up Some Cosmic Horrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a journey's end

  
Meta Knight shielded himself, expecting the magenta crystal to shatter; but instead, the crystal began to unfold itself, like a flower in bloom. Once the crystal had released them, the other masked figure stretched out their white wings and opened their glowing red eyes from behind their mask. With the crystal gone, Meta Knight realized something about the body of the figure. Their body was a brilliant magenta and it appeared to glimmer as if a galaxy was being contained within their form; a signature trait of the "puffball" species both Meta Knight and Kirby belonged.

  
The figure before him slowly blinked. "Who are you, and why have you summoned me?" Their voice sounded like a lost memory, yet somehow felt timeless.

  
"I-" Meta Knight tried to clear his throat. "I wish to fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy."

  
The figure blinked once more. "You want to fight me?" The figure raised their magenta javelin. "You wish to fight Galacta Knight?"

  
Meta Knight swallowed before nodding his head.

  
The figure stared at him for a moment. "Very well." The other pulled their javelin back, prepared to strike. "Don't hold anything back."

  
Meta Knight hardly had anytime to react before the enemy's lance was jabbed straight at his mask. The hit's power reminded Meta Knight of what happened when he got hit by Dedede's jet-hammer, as the attack sent him flying down to one of the broken pieces of Halfmoon. The knight pushed himself out of a crater, wiped the dust off his metal mask, and gripped firmly on Galaxia. Alright then, no holding back it is.

  
Meta Knight saw Galacta Knight land on the other side of the battlefield and then drilled himself and Galaxia torwards the foe, landing a clean shot on the opponents shield. Galacta Knight knocked the sword away and began a slash combo with their lance. _Why are they trying to slash with a lance? That technique is used for swords!_ Meta Knight blocked the first several hits with Galaxia before back-flipping out of harms way. _Time for a different approach._ Meta Knight raised Galaxia to the sky, engulfing her in flame before slamming her back to down to the ground, releasing a powerful gust of wind that knocked Galacta Knight off their feet. Meta Knight flew across the battlefield, Galaxia primed for attack and was met with the other knight's lance. Meta Knight smirked as spun around and attacked the opponent from behind, sending Galacta Knight across the battlefield like a meteor. The sword-wielding knight cautiously circled the crater where the other knight crashed.

  
"Come on now! Don't make this easy!" Meta Knight shouted.

  
Meta Knight's request was answered when Galacta Knight unveiled their wings once more, now being shielded by a halo of glowing swords.

  
_That's more like it._

  
Galacta Knight pointed their lance at Meta Knight, sending a stream of magic swords in his direction. The sword-wielding knight tried to fly out of the way, but was blocked by Galacta Knight, their crimson eyes blazing. Meta Knight drew Galaxia back for another attack when Galacta Knight slashed their javelin through the thin air.

  
"Hah! You missed-" Were the words Meta Knight probably shouldn't have said, as he was now being pulled into a spacial rift. The feeling of being dragging into portal was a feeling that was sickeningly familiar to the indigo puffball, and the only thing he could think to do was to try to fly out of the rift.

  
_Meta Knight!_ Galaxia's ethereal voice resonated in his mind. _Compose yourself!_

  
The knight closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he pulled his cape over him, teleporting himself out of the rift's draw and back onto solid ground. Galacta Knight said nothing as they landed back on the battlefield.

  
Meta Knight looked over to the unphased warrior. "What? No witty comments?"

  
Galacta Knight didn't reply.

  
Meta Knight used Galaxia to help hoist him back onto his feet. "Fine then. Have it your way." Meta Knight flapped his wings and launched himself back to the other warrior.

  
\---

  
Dedede brushed off his robe and turned around to check on the others. Kirby's Warp Star must have crashed as the group was now scattered across the odd plane they landed on. The environment Dedede found himself in was very alien and was made out of many murky colors. _I don't think this is Ripplestar._ The dark clouds around the group contorted violently. _I HOPE this isn't Ripplestar!_ Dedede looked next to him to see that Kirby was still unconscious.

  
The king tried the shake the puffball awake. "C'mon, Puffball. We've got a job to do."

  
Kirby drowsily got up to his feet and yawned. "Sorry guys, I didn't expect the Warp Star to crash that badly." The puffball turned to see Bandana Waddle Dee, Adeleine and Ribbon coming to. "C'mon you guys! Dark Matter probably isn't that far from us now!" The group ran further into the darkness, with Kirby leading the charge.

  
The group ran further into the void, when Dedede thought he saw a red eye fly by among the dark haze.

  
"I think Zero must be close." Kirby said as he skidded to a stop.

  
"Isn't Zero what's controlling the Dark Matter?" Bandanna Dee inquired and Kirby simply replied with a nod.

  
"I think Zero is watching us." The pink puffball pointed up to the mist above. "I think it's up there."

  
Ribbon eye's glistened with determination. "We can use the crystal shards to seal Zero away." She held a strange crystal artifact in her hand. "By using this, we can fight Zero head on and seal it away for good!"

  
"Guess you're still going to need a way up there, huh?" Dedede swung his hammer and smirked. "Guess that's where I come in!"

  
"Actually-" Kirby grabbed Dedede and Bandanna Dee's hands. "I have a better idea."

  
The group looked at each other and nodded as Ribbon grabbed Kirby's head and Adeleine jumped on Dedede's back. Together, the group of five jumped straight into the abyss beyond.

  
\---

  
Dedede blinked open his eyes and looked around. The group was now levitating in a red cloud with no sense of gravity. The king turned around to see his companions waking up as well. When Dedede realized he didn't see Kirby, he spun his head around and sighed in relief when he saw Ribbon gripping on to the pink puffball as she fluttered in space.

  
_Alright. Everyone's here. Now where's Zero?_

  
The group all twisted their heads as a gigantic, white, winged orb descended before them. It's wings were made up of white and red petals, and it had a golden halo resting atop its head. It's face was far different from what Dedede expected, as it had two dot eyes and a cutesy smilely mouth.

  
_That's weird. In my dream, Zero neveraaaAAAAAAAAAA!!!_

  
Zero's 'smiley mouth' opened to reveal it's giant, bulging, pained red eye that gazed through the king.   
Dedede gripped his hammer as he felt a bead of sweat go down his head. He turned around to see Bandanna Dee spinning his spear and Adeleine brandishing her paintbrush.

  
"I...I'm not afraid of you, Zero..." Kirby's voice squeaked. "I'm not afraid because I'm not alone."

  
\---

  
_Let's finish this!_ Meta Knight spun around violently and formed the Mach Tornado, slamming into Galacta Knight. The lance-wielding knight was launched back down to the arena, falling into a crater of their own. Meta Knight landed by the crater holding Galaxia across his mask in case Galacta Knight could still fight. Meta Knight heard a cough from inside the crater.

  
"This...this is impossible!" The dust cleared to see Galacta Knight fallen over. "I'm the strongest warrior in the galaxy!" The masked figure's scarlet eyes glared at Meta Knight with a righteous fury. "You. Just who do you think you are!?"

  
Meta Knight blinked and flipped his cape over himself. "I don't have a name; just a title. Call me 'Meta Knight'."

  
Galacta Knight growled. "This...this is not over!" The other knight tried to stumble out of the crater. "I can't afford to lose!" Their voice trembled with desperation. "I-I can't go back!" Galacta Knight started to rise off of the ground and shined with a faint pink light. "I don't want to go back!" A multitude of crystal shards began to shower over the other knight. "I...Nova! Please!" Galacta Knight's calls were cut off as the crystal prism was sealed over them once more.

  
Meta Knight felt incredibly uneasy, be couldn't tell why.

  
_Congratulations, Meta Knight. You're officially the strongest warrior in the galaxy._ Galaxia's voice hummed with satisfaction, but Meta Knight was still at a lost for words.

  
\---

  
Kirby closed one of his eyes as he focused the Crystal Gun onto Zero's thorny tail. The Crystal Gun shot out a ray of crystal shards that tore through Zero's already heavily damaged tail. A large, red tear fell from it's eye and let out a deafening screech as the black clouds around the group begin to be sucked in by Zero's falling form, causing the arena by be flooded by a blinding light. Ribbon quickly dragged Kirby away fro Zero's body, which had now become a black hole and flew back to where Dedede, Bandanna Dee, and Adeleine were standing. Adeleine pulled out her canvas and began to paint a star shaped portal, that jumped of the canvas and tugged the group out of harm's way and back to Ripple Star.

  
\---

  
"Great King! Are you alright?" Dedede rolled over to see Bandanna Dee.

  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Dedede patted the waddle dee on the head. "Glad to see you're OK, too."

Dedede looked over his shoulder to see Kirby cheerfully dancing around Ribbon and Adeleine. "I don't get it."

  
Bandanna Dee looked at Dedede. "Huh?"

  
"Kirby just saw what is likely the most terrifying thing he will ever see in his life, and yet..." Dedede crossed his arms. "He's dancing around like nothing happened!"

  
Bandanna Dee blinked and scratched his head. "Well, do you want to know what I think?"

  
"Go on."

  
"Well...I think Kirby was scared!" The waddle dee explained. "You heard how he sounded back when we were fighting Zero; the poor kid sounded terrified! But..." Bandanna Dee looked at the others dancing around in celebration. "Kirby was able to win. Kirby knows that he's stronger than Zero, so he's not afraid!" The waddle dee turned to Dedede. "You shouldn't be scared anymore either."

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

  
"Don't tell me that I didn't see you back during the fight! I saw you try to hit Zero with your hammer! That was great!" The waddle dee chuckled. "And it wasn't just you! Adeleine was about to paint an Ice Dragon to help fight and I-" The waddle dee sheepishly shuffled his feet. "I was about to toss by spear straight into Zero's eyeball." Bandanna Dee beamed. "We were all really brave!"

  
Dedede sniffed as he felt a tear well up in one of his eyes.

Kirby ran over to the king and the waddle dee. "Hey! King Dedede! Bandanna Dee! Ribbon said that the Ripple Queen is back to normal! And that we're all invited to a big feast! Isn't that great?"

  
Dedede wiped the tear from his eye and rubbed Kirby's head. "Yeah it is, puffball!" The king swung his arms behind his head. "I was hoping I would get a bite to eat after saving the galaxy!"

  
Kirby giggled as Ribbon and Adeleine joined with the rest of the group.

  
"C'mon then! Let's go to the Castle! Her Majesty is waiting for us." Ribbon stated and the group began to head off to the Ripple Kingdom castle together.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight hadn't moved an inch since Galacta Knight had been sealed away again. Meta Knight didn't know what was wrong, but he felt...unsatisfied.

  
_Well, now that your quest is complete, let's head back to Popstar._ Galaxia's voice broke the silence.

  
Meta Knight's throat felt dry. _Am I really...the strongest warrior in the galaxy?_

  
_Well, yes. You did defeat Galacta Knight after all. You are the strongest warrior in the galaxy._

  
_Alright, alright. I get it._ The knight stood in silence for several minutes.

  
Galaxia's voice sighed. _What's wrong now?_

  
_I-_ Meta Knight violently kicked a pebble, launching it across the battlefield. _I don't feel satisfied!_

  
_Oh, little knight. It sounds like you didn't find what your heart desired._

  
_And just what is THAT supposed to mean!?_

  
_Meta Knight, calm down. Compose yourself. You don't need to resort yourself to violent outbursts-_

  
Meta Knight began to furiously strike the earth with Galaxia, scattering rubble and dust everywhere, his eyes glistening with rage.

  
_Meta Knight! That's enough! You're acting like a child!_

  
Galaxia's scolding didn't stop the knight from scorching and scarring the battlefield, as the knight continued to slash the sword through any solid object he could see.

  
\---

  
"I believe this belongs to you." Dedede handed the blue bandanna back to Bandee.

  
The waddle dee's eyes widened upon seeing the piece of cloth. "My bandanna!" He quickly threw the cloth over his head. "I-I almost forgot about it! My King-"

  
The king patted his stomach. "Don't worry about it. You can do whatever you want! This is a gift of friendship; I'm not forcing you to work for me again."

  
"I-I" The waddle dee shook his head. "But, I want to work for you again! It's the least I can do after everything that's happened!"

  
Dedede brought his hand to forehead and sighed. "Listen, Bandee. I'm serious about this, I don't need you to-"

  
Suddenly, Adeleine's voice echoed from the other side of Dedede's throne room. "Oh, C'mon Dedede! If Bandee wants to work for you again, just let him!"

  
Kirby waddled over to Dedede and Bandee. "Adeleine's right! If BD really wants to work for you again, just let him!" Kirby puffed up his cheeks. "There's no reason to be so stubborn about this!"

  
Dedede sighed. "Alright then." The king pulled out his hammer and gently swung it over the waddle dee's arms. "I hereby decree that from now on you, Bandee, will be the Captain of the Dreamland Waddle Dee Guard."

  
"Thank you, Great King-" The waddle dee jumped. "Wait! I'm the captain!?"

  
The king snickered. "What? You didn't say anything against me promoting you, so I decided to be a little generous."

  
"I-I" The waddle dee swallowed and bowed his head. "Thank you, Great King."

  
Dedede groaned. "Ugh! Just call me Dedede! No more of the 'Great King' nonsense! We're friends, OK? Got me?"

  
"Um, yes, Great-"

  
Dedede grumbled.

  
"Yes, Dedede." The waddle dee adjusted his bandanna and left the throne room.

  
"Hey, Triple-D! I finished the painting! What do you think?" Adeleine said, showing the king her painting. It was a complete painting of Kirby, Ribbon, Adeleine, Bandanna Dee, and Dedede with the Ripple Queen, celebrating their victory over Dark Matter. Everyone was smiling and the painting was incredibly colorful.

  
Dedede couldn't help but bring a smile to his beak. "It looks great, Addie! I'll hang it on my fridge."

  
Adeleine stomped her foot. "Hey, you said that you would hang above the thone-"

  
Dedede smirked.

  
"Oh, you're joking." The artist laughed. "Hah, hah. Very funny, Triple-D."

  
Dedede, Adeleine and Kirby all began to laugh. Not for any real reason, but just because.

  
_It's nice to have friends._ The king silently said to himself.

  
\---

  
_Planet Mekkai?_ Galaxia's voice asked as Meta Knight glided down to the industrialized planet.

  
_I have to check something really quick._ The knight landed on it's surface with a metal clang.

  
_What could there possibly be here?_

  
Meta Knight walked over to a control panel. The screen was cracked and the control board was covered in dust, Meta Knight tried to activate anyways.

  
_This computer is ancient. Do you honestly think-_ Galaxia's voice was cut off by a loud whirring sound coming the computer.

  
The knight started typing away on it's panel.

  
_This technology is alien. There's no possible way that you can activate it._

  
_Not necessarily._ Meta Knight clicked the enter button. The screen flashed with alien symbols and then began to load up several pixellated images.

  
_How did you do that?_

  
_I typed in Halcandran. I figured that the computers here might have been based on Halcandran programming._

  
_And how did you figure that?_

  
_Lucky guess._

  
Meta Knight brought his glove to the screen and began to scroll through the images.

  
_What are you looking for now?_

  
_When I was studying the artifacts of Pop Star, I heard of a rather peculiar artifact._ The knight tapped on an image and blew it up. the imaged displayed a large mirror that was decorated with golden stars. _It was called "The Dimensional Mirror"._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just who is the strongest warrior in the galaxy?


	10. Step 6: Going Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this chapter: character interaction with little plot!

  
Dooloo (somehow) sipped her martini as she reclined further into her beach chair. Ah...this is the life. Several months have passed since the waddle doo was dismissed from King Dedede's Dreamland Guard and she was enjoying every moment of it. _No work. No distractions. No walnut-brained kings. Just me, and the Ice Cream Islands._ The waddle doo took another sip of her martini when she heard a distant, familiar voice.

  
"Hey! Dooloo! Is that you?"

  
Dooloo adjusted her stylish sunglasses and squinted out to the horizon. "What the-" Her eye widened when she saw a orange figure sitting in boat out in the sea. _Oh no. Oh no no no no no-_ As the figure rowed closer, she could more clearly make out just who the figure was. There was only one waddle dee that wore a blue bandanna like that.

  
"Hey! Dooloo! It's me! Bandanna Waddle Dee!"

  
The waddle doo slammed her glass on the ground and tried to scurry away. "Um, no! You must have me confused with another beautiful and brilliant waddle doo!" She cried as she tried to run away.

  
Bandanna Dee sighed. "Seriously?" The waddle dee jumped out of he boat and began to furiously swim his way over to the island.

  
Dooloo tried to scramble past the tropical trees but was cut off when a spear was thrown right in front of her.

  
"ARE YOU SERIOUS!? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?" The waddle doo mage screeched when she spun around to see Bandanna Dee, his hand clearly in a throwing position.

  
"Sorry, Dooloo." The waddle dee adjusted his bandanna. "I didn't know why you were running away, so I had to stop you somehow."

  
"Well, that was very rude of you!" The waddle doo crossed her arms. "I was running away because I don't want to see you!" Dooloo stopped when she saw that the waddle dee's eyes were welling up with tears.

  
Bandanna Dee sniffed. "T-that was very rude of you, Dooloo!"

  
The waddle doo began to frantically wave her arms. "H-hey now! I didn't mean that!" Dooloo huffed. "I don't have a problem with you, It's Dedede I have beef with!"

  
The waddle dee jumped. "What!?" He furiously shook his head. "No no no no no! You've got it all wrong! Dedede's changed! He's a good guy again!"

  
"That implies he was one to begin with." Dooloo deadpanned.

  
"I'm serious! Not only that, but he wants you to come back to the castle!"

  
Dooloo glared. "Are you kidding me? Why would I ever want to go back there!?"

  
"It's not for work!" The waddle dee explained. "It's a party! And you're invited!" He said pointing to the mage.

  
The waddle doo sighed. "So what? In case you haven't noticed, I've been partying just fine by myself." She twirled around and jumped back into her chair. "Now go on! The once masterful mage of mystery, Dooloo, is no more! Tell our king that I'd rather eat a sock then attend his stupid party!"

  
Bandee sighed. "Pretty please?" He said, his brown eyes glistening like the shining sea.

  
Dooloo grimaced before exhaling. "Fine."

  
\---

  
_So where exactly is this Dimensional Mirror anyways?_ Galaxia flashed.

  
Meta Knight wiped his cape over the sword, clearing the blade of dirt. _Supposedly, the mirror located within the clouds of Popstar._

  
_Within the clouds?_

  
_Indeed._ The knight tucked the golden blade under his cape. _According to legend, there's supposedly an entire kingdom hidden way amidst Popstar's skies._

  
Since Meta Knight's victory over the legendary warrior, Galacta Knight, he had slowly worked his way over to one of Popstar's moons, where he was currently preparing for his return to the peaceful planet. About a year had passed since Meta Knight was banned from Dreamland, but he figures that as long as stays outside the kingdom, he should be free to continue on his no quest. The moon he resided on is one of Popstar's larger moons, one with a large gap torn through it. For whatever reason, the golden moon had a distinct hole in it, despite Meta Knight remembering the moon being whole. This, of course, didn't matter. As long as Meta Knight could find this 'Land of the Skies', this quest should be much simpler than his last. Meta Knight unfolded his wings, and began a running start back to the star-shaped planet; the place he once called home.

  
\---

  
Dooloo looked at the castle gates. Like many other of the King's impromptu dinner parties, the party hosted almost every waddle dee who worked for the king; and this time seemed to be no exception. As expected, a flood of waddle dees were scurrying inside the castle holding party platter of all sorts of cakes, sandwiches, sweets, and fruits.

  
"So, where are all the waddle doos?" Dooloo grumbled.

  
"You'll see!" Bandanna Dee said with a wink as he led the the grumpy mage into the castle gates.

  
Dooloo continued to grumble to herself as the two approached the giant double doors blocking the throne room. The waddle doo mage wasted no time shoving the doors open with extra, dramatic flair. _What can I say? I like making an entrance!_ The waddle doo stopped when she saw a room full of waddle doos conversing and eating together with giddiness. Dooloo looked to the back of the room to see King Dedede reclined in his throne, chucking a turkey leg into the crowd.

  
"Well, well, well! If it isn't my number-one waddle doo!" The king exclaimed loudly.

  
The former court mage crossed her arms. "Your Majesty. What is all of this about now?" She said with contempt.  
The king gave a crooked smile. "W-what do you mean? Can't a king go out his way to through an apology party for his once great waddle-doo mage general?"

  
"I'm still very great-" Dooloo was cut off when a painting was shoved into her face.

  
"Hey, Miss Dooloo! This is for you!" An unfamiliar, youthful voice shouted.

  
Dooloo brought the painting away from her face to get a better look at it. The painting was of Dooloo's visage, displaying the waddle doo standing triumphantly on a mountain, surrounded by a brilliant golden light. The coloring on the piece was incredibly vibrant, and Dooloo had to admit that the shading on her eye was very impressive.

  
The mage turned her head to see a strange, lanky figure wearing a red hat and a green shirt. "So, what do you think?" The stranger asked.

  
"I...I love this." The waddle doo skimmed her arm across the painting. "The colors, the composition, the shading, ME!? I love EVERYTHING about this!"

  
"I knew you would!" Dedede said, having walked over and was currently ruffling the stranger's hat. "Adeleine here is an artist first class! I figured she'd be able to meet even your incredibly high standards." The king explained.

  
Dooloo adjusted her witch hat. "Yeah, well - It's really just good because it's a painting of me."

  
Adeleine grinned. "I'm still not hearing a 'no'!"

  
Dedede chuckled. "Yeah, typically a response like that means she likes it!"

  
From behind the group, Dooloo heard an oddly familiar voice. "Of course she'd like it! Even General Dooloo should be able to recognize Adeleine's amazing talent!"

  
"No way." The mage spun around to see a certain pink puffball giggling gleefully. Dooloo immediately turned to Dedede. "YOU INVITED KIRBY!?"

 

\---

  
The masked knight soared through the clouds, his vision obscured by the dense fog and mist.

  
_I hope you realize this is just asking for an angry visit from Kracko._ Galaxia deadpanned.

  
_I'm well aware. It should be any moment now-_ The knight cut himself off as the fog suddenly dissipated to reveal a singular verdant floating island, suspended by the clouds below. The island was covered with a beautiful array of flowers and vines that gently draped themselves off of the island's cliff sides. As Meta Knight glided down closer to the island, he noticed that the wind was carrying streams of dancing flower petals, almost making it seem like the island was surrounded by a ring of flowers.

  
_It's gorgeous!_ Galaxia exclaimed. _And this has been hidden within the clouds this entire time?_

  
Meta Knight frowned. _As beautiful as it is, it's not what I'm looking for._

  
_Oh come on!_ Her typically ethereal voice spat. _Surely you must be tired of all this flying. Certainly we have enough time to take a small break on this island!_

  
The knight sighed. _Fine. But this isn't a vacation. I don't plan on wasting a lot of time here. I'll take a short break but then we'll get moving again, is that clear?_

  
Galaxia chuckled. _You're the boss here, I'm just the talking sword. It's not like I really have that much say in this matter._

  
The masked knight hesitantly glided down to the verdant island, sailing down to it's clear, grassy plains. As he descended, he could make out waddle dees, waddle doos, scarfies, and bronto bursts frolicking around within the flowering fields.

  
Meta Knight let out a scoff.

  
_Grrr...I'm Meta Knight and I hate fun._ Galaxia said mockingly.

  
_No that's not it._ The puffball shifted his mask. _I just have pollen allergies. That's all._ The knight landed by a small, shimmering stream of crystal clear water.

  
_Oh, come on. Loosen up a little. We can take out time if we want to._

  
_You mean if 'you' want to?_ The puffball quickly looked behind to check to make sure that nobody was watching as he carefully removed his mask. He slowly glanced down to the stream to look at his reflection. His indigo face was freckled with tiny glimmers of star light and graced over with several small scars, evidence of his experience on the battlefield. His golden-silver eyes shimmered like the stream itself; almost as if they were watering.

  
The knight frowned. _I...I don't look like a warrior. I look like I'm about to cry._

  
_Oh please. You're too self-conscious, those scars easily give you the look of a grizzled warrior._ Galaxia replied.

  
The puffball splashed some water on his dust-covered face. _A warrior is not supposed to look...cute._

  
Galaxia hummed. _I don't think that. I think that a cute appearance could be used in a fight to mislead your opponent. It's hardly a useless trait._

  
Meta Knight shuffled his mask back onto his head. _It's useless to the strongest warrior in the galaxy._

  
_Well, you're not entirely wrong._ Galaxia replied. _Now that you're the strongest warrior in the galaxy, maybe you should start finding other hobbies._

  
The knight continued walking through the field. _Like what?_

  
_Oh, I don't know. Maybe reading, or cooking? I've always wanted to try to knitting._ Galaxia mused.

  
_You don't have any arms._

  
_Yes, well, I used to._

  
Meta Knight felt a light chuckle escape from his mouth.

  
_See? You can laugh!_ Galaxia exclaimed. _Why are you so against having fun and trying new things? I truly think that you would enjoy them._

  
The knight blinked. _I mean - I do like reading. Reading about the ancient artifacts on Popstar was incredibly enjoyable._

  
_Why don't you try reading more than just dusty old tomes? I could really see you enjoy reading fantasy novels._

  
Meta Knight grumbled. _I don't like them. I find them too inaccurate._

  
_Do you even understand the meaning of 'fantasy'?_

  
\---

  
Dooloo pointed her wand at Kirby. "Just what are you doing here, puffball!?" She exclaimed.

  
Bandanna Waddle Dee stepped between the waddle doo and the puffball. "D-Dooloo! Take it easy! Listen, Kirby's no longer our-" Dooloo hurriedly pushed the waddle dee aside, prompting several gasps from the crow of waddle doos.

  
"Alright, puffball! May this throne room serve as the battlefield where our long-held grudge will finally come to an end!" The mage declared, her eyes glistening with a sharp blue light. "In the name of my honor, you will be smighted by the incredible one-eyed wizard, Dooloo!" Suddenly, Dooloo's wand disappeared from her hand.

  
"Yeah, no." Dedede said, before chucking the rod behind him. "We're not doing this today."

  
"But, my King!" The waddle doo cried. "Kirby is our enemy!"

  
"How do I put this?" The king awkwardly shrugged. "We've kinda put my rivalry with Kirby...to rest."

  
"Why?" Dooloo asked as Kirby ran over next to Dedede.

  
"That's because we're all friends now!" The puffball cheered.

  
The waddle doo blinked and let out a flat "What?"

  
Kirby simply nodded. "Yep!"

  
"Yeah." Dedede sheepishly scratched his head. "You see, after Kirby saved Dreamland how many times? I decided to keep the puffball around." The king crossed his arms and raised his beak indignantly. "You know, for like, security reasons."

  
"We also play checkers sometimes!" Kirby interjected.

  
"You're kidding." Dooloo said flatly.

  
"We're not." Bandanna Dee replied.

  
Dooloo grumbled. "I can't believe this. You're seriously friends with Kirby? The marshmallow menace?"

  
The puffball in question tilted his head and looked at Dedede. "Marshmallow menace?"

  
The king shifted his eyes. "Uh, we don't call you that anymore." Dedede looked at Dooloo. "The point is you're not allowed to 'smite' Kirby."

  
"I seriously have to get along with Kirby?" Dooloo loudly grumbled as she gripped her wand.

  
"I'm not forcing you to be my friend, you know?" Kirby retorted.

  
Bandanna Dee waddled over and whispered to the waddle doo. "You can still hate him. Just try to hate him in silence."

  
"Fine."

  
\---

  
Since taking a short break on the verdant floating island, Meta Knight took off to the skies again. It appears that the first floating island was just one of an entire airborne archipelago. While ascending through the clouds, the knight passed over a candy-covered island (definitely not what Meta Knight was looking for) and a snowy, mountainous island.

  
_I wish I could have both my wings and my cape at the same time. It's rather...chilly up here._ The knight thought to himself, shivering as he scanned the third floating island.

  
_Why not wear a second cape?_ Galaxia said teasingly.

  
The strong wind blowing around the island didn't help matters, as Meta Knight's admittedly flimsy wings were doing a poor job keeping his balance as the gusts continued to push the knight around like a leaf in the wind. A particularly strong gust of wind hit the knight, causing him to roll over on the breeze. _That's it. I'm going to find another island. If there is something here, I'll check it on the way back._ As the knight furiously flapped his way out of the cold, he failed to notice a beady, sparkling eye gazing at him from within the clouds.

 


	11. Step 7: Breaking the Law

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy early update everyone

  
"King me."

  
Adeleine grumbled as she moved a red checker piece on top of another red piece on her side of the board. "Ugh. You're always the first one to get kinged."

  
Dedede adjusted his crown-toboggan. "Well, I am the actual king here."

  
The human girl moved a piece. "I still don't really see you as a king. You're more like Dreamland's eccentric, buffoonish uncle."

  
"I'll take that as a compliment." Dedede replied sarcastically, somewhat offended by the 'buffoon' remark. The king hopped the double-red piece over two of Adeleine's pieces.

  
"Darn it!" The girl ejected. "All I have is my king!"

  
Dedede chuckled. "Well, you better do something with it because it looks like I'm winning!"

  
Before Adeleine could make a witty comeback, Bandanna Waddle Dee scurried over to the two of them with a spy glass in hand. "Y-You're Majesty! U-Urgent News!"

  
Dedede absent-mindedly shooed the waddle dee away. "Save it. I'm about to win this game of checkers. Tell me in sec-" Suddenly, the checkerboard was covered by a huge shadow, prompting Dedede to turn around to see an odd cloud with yellow spikes and a giant, glistening eye.

  
"YOUR HIGHNESS!" Kracko thundered, prompting Adeleine to cover her ears. "DIRE NEWS, I FEAR."

  
Adeleine clutched her chest and took a breath while Dedede spoke up, sounding very much unphased. "It better be. You nearly scared Adeleine half to death!"

  
"oh sorry." The cloud monster whispered before clearing it's throat. "UH, BACK TO THE NEWS."

  
Dedede, Adeleine and Bandee all gathered around the cloud patiently.

  
Kracko began to wince slightly. "YOU REMEMBER META KNIGHT...?"

  
"Yeah...?" Dedede said hesitantly.

  
"UM. HE'S BACK...ON POPSTAR I MEAN."

  
Several moments passed.

  
"Wait, you saw him? Here? On Popstar?" Dedede asked.

  
Kracko's eye shifted. "YEAH. ON POPSTAR."

  
Dedede stared at the cloud with an indescribable expression. "I...see."

  
The king looked like he was about to topple over when Bandanna Dee ran to his side. "Dedede!" The waddle dee helped the king back onto his feet. "M-maybe it would be a good idea if I were to report this to the other dee's. You know, to strengthen defenses and stuff."

  
Dedede nodded his head still looking very disoriented before wiping his sleeve across his head. "Uh...yeah. Great plan, BD. Let's...hop to it."

  
Bandanna Dee proceeded to aid the king as the descended down from the castle's roof back inside.

  
"I've...never seen Dedede act like that." Adeleine said in disbelief. She turned to the giant cloud-monster. "Have you ever seen him like this?"

  
"CAN'T SAY I HAD." Kracko hummed. "HOWEVER. I DO KNOW THAT EVER SINCE META KNIGHT TRIED TO CLAIM THE THRONE, THE KING HASN'T BEEN NEARLY AS CONFIDENT IN HIMSELF; FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE."

  
Adeleine frowned. "Huh. Guess Dedede is more sensitive than I thought."

  
"HE REALLY DIDN'T TAKE META KNIGHT'S CRITICISM WELL." Kracko continued. "I DON'T THINK HE'S AFRAID OF META KNIGHT, BUT HE'S DEFINITELY AFRAID OF META KNIGHT BEING RIGHT ABOUT HIM."

  
"But Dedede's changed!" Adeleine pleaded. "He isn't the same lazy, greedy king he used to be!"

  
"MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY TELLING META KNIGHT THAT." Kracko replied a matter-of-factly.

  
The young artist scowled slightly. "Yeah." She adjusted her beret. "If I could."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight held Galaxia out, using her fiery glow as a source of light. The knight had entered a large temple on top of a fourth floating island; the temple he has been searching for. Now all that was left was study the ruins to find clues pointing to the exact location of the 'Dimensional Mirror'. The knight swung the golden sword around, her golden light illuminating the dark chamber. The room was clouded by dust clouds, and the walls were covered by vines and spiderwebs; not surprising as the temple was hidden away within a lush jungle inhabited by arachnid-creatures.

  
The knight carefully stepped deeper into the room. Temples like this are carefully laced with traps. _Best proceed with caution._ Meta Knight carefully climbed the set of stone stairs ahead of him. As he reached the top of the steps, he saw that light was filtering out of the crumbling ceiling above. Before him, there were five large pillars holding the roof up, but the rest of the chamber was too dark to see. The knight unfurled his wings. _Guess we need to get a better look._

  
Just as Meta Knight ran forwards, preparing to glide through the pillars, dust started to fall from the ceiling and a loud rumbling sound began to echo from the floor. A large, metallic rattling sound became louder and louder as a gigantic, steel serpent slithered up one of the pillars, it's crystal eyes staring at Meta Knight with hostility. Just as the knight awkwardly fluttered back to the floor, a blast of glowing string struck the creature, wrapping it in a thick web of net.

  
"Stand back!" A youthful, yet sophisticated voice echoed from the staircase.

  
Meta Knight looked over his shoulder to see a horned figure wearing an elegant, green cloak quickly approach the knight. The figure had a silver bowl-cut, and six detached hands, two of them encased around another ball of silk. The spider-like figure tossed the silk ball at the snake, trapping it to the pillar it had wrapped around. Meta Knight hopped to his feet and quickly slashed at the pillar with Galaxia, causing the pillar and the snake-creature to fall to the darkness below.

  
"Well." The spider fellow said, catching their breath. "I suppose that settles matter now, huh?" The spider figure noticed Meta Knight's attentive stare and jumped. "Oh! My mistake! Allow me to introduce myself." The figure bowed. "My name is Taranza, Royal retainer to Princess Sectonia."

  
Meta Knight nodded. "Meta Knight. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." The knight said extending a hand to Taranza.

  
"Oh the pleasure's all mine!" The retainer replied. "See, I was on my way here on request of the princess, and I intended to fight the Coily Rattler myself-" Taranza stroked a hand through his hair and looked away. "But it looks like you handled that for me, now didn't you?"

  
"You could always just tell Her Highness that you slew the beast. I've no need for fame." _Not when you're the strongest warrior in the galaxy, that is._

  
The spider-boy's eyes widened (four of which were visible). "What? Oh no no no!" The retainer furiously shook his head. "I didn't come here to slay the beast! Sectonia just has a fascination for treasure." The boy got a somewhat wistful look on his face. "I always come to these temples in order to bring back treasures to my princess. She absolutely adores gems and jewelry and the like!"

  
"I see." Meta Knight brought a glove up to his mask and hummed. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know about a 'Dimensional Mirror', would you?"

  
Taranza innocently raised an eyebrow. "No, sorry. I've never seen a mirror in these temples before."

  
"I...I see."

  
Just as Meta Knight turned to walk away, Taranza shouted to him. "Wait! Maybe there is some way I can help you!"

  
"Help me?" The knight scowled. "Why do you want to help me?"

  
"Well, you did defeat the Coily-Rattler for me, after all." Taranza adjusted his red scarf. "And it's also the gentlemanly thing to do!"

  
Meta Knight stepped closer. "Alright. I'm listening."

  
Taranza pointed one of his hands at the pillars. "Well, you see those markings on the pillars?"

  
Meta Knight squinted his eyes, and indeed, their appeared to be delicate etchings carved into the pillars.

  
"The writing is that of 'Floralian', most of the Sky-People typically write in Popstarian, but considering my attachment to the royal family-" Taranza said with a smug grin. "I'm equipped with the knowledge to transcribe that ancient writing! Mind if I give it a try?"

  
Meta Knight gestured for the boy to read to carvings, and Taranza started to translate the writing. "The Mirror of Wonders was relocated to the clouds of sea-foam. The Mirror of Wonders showed us endless possibilities, and the truth of one's self." Taranza squinted as he read further. "The Mirror of Wonders showed what once was, what is, and what could be." Taranza paused as his eyes moved over to the gap that was left by the pillar Meta Knight destroyed. "I-I'm just gonna skip that part." The spider-boy said awkwardly before moving to the next pillar. "The Mirror of Wonders showed another world, similar to our own. The Mirror of Wonders can offer us another life. The Mirror of Wonders could offer us true power." Meta Knight swore he heard Taranza repeat that last bit under his breath before the retainer looked to the knight with a smile. "Well, that was it!" Taranza stroked his chin with a hand. "Still though, I'm at a lost as to what the sea-foam clouds may be."

  
"The Bubbly Clouds." Meta Knight answered abruptly. "That's where the mirror is." The knight marched onward to the descending stairs. "Thanks for the help." He said flatly as he exited the room.

  
"Y-you're welcome." Taranza said, sounding somewhat dejected.

  
_Would it kill you to show a bit more courtesy to those who try to help you?_   Galaxia scolded him in the back of his mind, but Meta Knight just kept walking.

  
\---

  
It was another scenic sunset at the Orange Ocean, however, a certain waddle dee had better things to do than to watch the day come to a close. Sailor Dee was hard at work sweeping up the abandoned Halberd hangar. While the Halberd may have been lost at sea and Meta Knight was banned from the country, someone had to keep an eye on the facility, even if Sailor Dee had to do it alone. Despite the lack of maintenance, the facility was always kept in well care thanks to the young waddle dee's diligence. The waddle dee was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice the short, four-legged figure crawling on the walls of the facility. Discreetly, the figure pulled out a long, thin, golden javelin.

  
_Careful...Don't want to hit the poor marshmallow._ The figure quickly flung the javelin, knocking the broom right out of the waddle dee's hand.

  
Sailor Dee let out a panicked screech as he jumped back. "W-W-WHO'S THERE?" The waddle dee squealed.

  
"At ease, Sailor!" A strange electronic voice buzzed. The mysterious figure jumped off of the wall in front of the startled sailor. The figure had four, nubby legs and was dressed in red armor. The wore a strange mask, containing a visor displaying a single neon line.

  
"Javelin Knight!? W-What are you doing h-"

  
Javelin Knight jumped on the waddle dee and made a loud shushing sound. "Be quite, Cadet! No one can know that we're both here!"

  
"Not really." Sailor Dee said adjusting his cap. "I'm not technically a Meta-Knight so I'm allowed to talk to you guys as much as I want."

  
"Oh yeah." Javelin Knight responded flatly, climbing off of the sailor. "Sorry about that."

  
"So what brings you here anyways? It's not like we have a Halberd to maintain anymore after all."

  
"Well considering I can't talk to the other knights, I thought I might as well talk to you." Javelin answered.

  
"Sure!" The waddle dee nodded enthusiastically. "What's up?"

  
Javelin Knight inched closer. "OK, have you heard the news?"

  
Sailor Dee tilted his head. "No? Other than that King Dedede supposedly helped Kirby defeat Dark Matter again. But that was several weeks ago, has something else happened-"

  
"WHAT!?" Javelin Knight screeched. "YOU HAVEN'T HEARD!?"

  
"Uh...no?" THe waddle dee replied awkwardly.

  
Javelin shook their head. "OK, ok, ok. Let me catch you up to speed. So apparently there's this rumor going around Castle Dedede-"

  
"A rumor? Aren't those usually a little far-fetched?"

 

The knight glared. "Let me finish! Apparently, Meta Knight was spotted in the skies above Popstar!"

  
The waddle dee's eyes began sparkling. "R-really? So you mean, he's back!?"

  
Javelin shrugged (somehow). "Apparently, and now the entire castle is on high alert again."

  
"Oh dear." the sailor started to shiver. "D-does that mean they might try to shut down the hangar? But this place is like home to me now!"

  
Javelin looked at the young sailor with their typical unreadable expression, before swinging their javelin over their shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, Sails. I'll tell you what." Javelin Knight picked up the broom on the floor. "It must be pretty difficult keeping this place clean by yourself. How about I lend you a hand?"

  
The waddle dee perked up. "Y-you mean it?" The sailor gave the knight a hug. "Oh, thank you so much! It was so lonely here without the rest of the Meta-Knights!"

  
Javelin gave an electronic chuckle. "I'd imagine. It's weird to admit, but I miss the rest of those knuckle-heads, too. Now then-" The knight began sweeping away at the metal floor plates. "Let's get to work! If Meta Knight really is back, this place better be in tip-top shape by the time he returns."

  
"Alright!" Sailor Dee cheered. "Wait, I only brought one broom."

  
\---

  
Dooloo hummed to herself as she scanned the fluffy clouds above Mt. Dedede.

  
"I have to ask, can you even see that much? Don't you have zero depth perception?" Bandana Dee asked from behind her.

  
"Yes, but my accuracy is 'laser' pointed." She said turning her head, revealing the distinct lightning-blue glow in her eye before she turned back to focus on the skies.

  
Bandanna Dee rolled his eyes. "Right. I'm just saying that the last time we had to scan the skies to find Meta Knight, we lost him."

  
"Yes, yes, I know, but Dooloo the Dangerous doesn't intend on repeating mistakes this time."

  
Dooloo was so focused on scanning the skies that she didn't notice Kirby running up to her holding a plate with a slice of cake on it.

  
"Hi BD! Hi Dooloo!" The puffball exclaimed as he approached the two waddles.

  
Dooloo rolled her eye but Bandanna Dee spun to face Kirby with enthusiasm. "Hey there, Kirby! How's your day?"

  
Kirby's face lit up. "Oh it's been great! Today, me and Gooey played a game of tag, but we didn't keep count of points so we don't know he won and then-" The puffball caught himself rambling. "I won't tell you all of the details." The puffball walked over to Dooloo and offered her his plate. "Hey Colonel! I brought you a slice of cake."

  
"You can keep it." Dooloo replied.

  
Bandanna Dee leaned over to her and whispered. "C'mon. Try to be nice! Kirby is offering you food; with his appetite, he's probably been trying really hard to save it for you! Just accept the offering!"

  
Dooloo winced before she let out a sigh and grabbed the plate. "Thank you..."

  
"You're very welcome!" Kirby said, his eyes beaming. The puffball inched closer and tried to see what Dooloo was watching. "So what are you doing? Cloud watching? I LOVE cloud watching; for example-" The puffball began pointing at various clouds in the sky. "That cloud looks like a flower! And that cloud looks like a tomato! Ooh! And that cloud looks like Kracko!"

  
"All clouds look like Kracko." Dooloo deadpanned before Bandanna Dee shushed her.

  
"What clouds were you looking at?" Kirby asked.

  
"I wasn't looking at the clouds. I'm looking for that ninny-headed narcissist, Meta Knight." Dooloo said dryly.

  
Kirby's sky-blue eyes widened. "M-meta Knight? But I thought he was banned from Dreamland! He can't be here-"

  
"Well, actually he can." Bandanna Dee interjected. "It's just that if he comes back, we have to do something about it."

  
Kirby looked stunned. "But...he's not back in Dreamland...Is he?"

  
"No." Dooloo answered. "But he's back on Popstar."

  
Somehow, Kirby's giant bold eyes grew even wider. "Y-you mean he's here? You've seen him!?"

  
"Well, actually Kracko saw him-"

  
Before Bandee could finish, Kirby jumped with excitement. "Kracko!? I know where he lives!"

  
Kirby immediately began to puff himself and float away, while Bandanna Dee just watched on feeling very confused.

  
"You know what, Kirby, this cake is actually incredibly delicious! I would like to apologize for being so rude to you earlier. It's just that I've been having a hard time putting our rivalry behind-" Dooloo lowered her plate and looked around. "Oh, and he's gone."

  
Dooloo and Bandanna Dee were so busy being confused that they didn't notice the dark, winged figure soar over the skies above them.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight carefully skated along the outside of the marble temples suspended by the Bubbly Clouds. _Alright. I don't think that Kracko is here._

  
_I agree._ Galaxia replied. _Something tells me that Kracko has other responsibilities right now._

  
Meta Knight glanced around the corner and sighed. _A-aye..._

  
_Feeling nervous?_

  
Meta Knight grimaced. _Never._ The knight quickly scurried around the corner and ran inside the temple. The hall was built of this beautiful iridescent marble, but the hallway was drenched in shadow as the hall stretched on. Meta Knight once more held out Galaxia, using her golden light as a candle through the darkness. Meta Knight's armored boots gently tapped on the glossy floor as the masked knight strode onward.

  
_I've got a bad feeling about this._ Galaxia's voice murmured.

  
Pillar after pillar faded away into shadow as the knight kept on walking, his gaze focused.

  
_Are you finally going to tell me what the deal is with this Dimensional Mirror, anyways?_

  
The knight kept walking.

  
_You've known about this for a long time; when did this suddenly become so important?_

  
Meta Knight's eyes widened when he saw a subtle shimmer glisten through the darkness. _There it is._

  
The knight picked up his pace and reached the end of the hall, and the object he had been searching for. It was hard to make out within the darkness, but the reflective object that stood before Meta Knight was undeniably a mirror. The mirror was incredibly tall and was decorated that these brilliant golden stars. Meta Knight brought a glove and graced it over the mirror.

  
Galaxia sighed. _At this point, I don't know whether you hate yourself or if you're a complete narcissist._

  
Meta Knight glared at the blade before opening his mouth to speak aloud. "I wish to fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy."

  
_Strongest warrior in the galaxy? Meta Knight, that's-_ If Galaxia had eyes that could widen, they would. _Wait, I get it now-_

  
Galaxia's voice was cut off by the sound of incoming footsteps and an incredibly cheerful voice. "Meta Knight! I found you!"

  
Meta Knight looked over his shoulder to see Kirby whose smiling face was practically lighting up the entire room.

  
"I-I'm so glad that I managed to find you." Kirby stammered. "This is great! Now we can talk with King Dedede! And get you unbanned! And then-"

  
"Kirby. What are you doing here-" Meta Knight tried to step towards the young puffball, but for whatever reason, he felt his hand, the one he touched the mirror with, being tugged. Meta Knight looked back at his arm, and realized that somehow, his hand was stuck inside the mirror.

  
Kirby grabbed Meta Knight's that was holding Galaxia. "C'mon Meta Knight! Let's go-" Kirby's stopped as he realized what was happening. "M-Meta Knight? That mirror, it-"

  
Before Meta Knight or Kirby could do anything, the masked knight was dragged into the mirror, out of the hallway, out of the world he knew, and was tucked into the next. All Meta Knight could see was Kirby pressing his hands against the mirror, incapable of following Meta Knight into the other world.

  
\---

  
When he felt solid ground again, Meta Knight looked to his glove in search of his captor. The disorientated knight however saw nothing wrong when he saw his glove being held by his other, until he realized that he didn't have two right handed gloves. He looked up...to see himself, or someone who looked very much like him. The second masked figure looked exactly like Meta Knight, except instead of being indigo in colored, the other Meta Knight was charcoal-grey and his cape was torn.

  
"Are you...the strongest-" The two Meta Knights paused when they realized that they were speaking simultaneously. "Are you me?" They blinked again after realizing they spoke simultaneously once more.

  
"I'm the strongest warrior in the galaxy." The other Meta Knight said, indicating himself with the thumb on his glove.

  
Meta Knight felt his blood boiling. "I'M the strongest warrior in the galaxy."

  
The other Meta Knight scoffed. "I know that, and you know that too."

  
The indigo puffball blinked and gripped onto Galaxia. "So...it's true then."

  
Meta Knight felt a bead of sweat go down his face when he saw the other Meta Knight point a silver replica Galaxia at him.

  
_Is...that Galaxia...like me?_ Galaxia's voice asked quietly.

  
"The Dimensional Mirror is the connection point between two parallel realities." The other knight explained. "I went in search of it in order to fight the strongest warrior in the galaxy, myself."

  
Meta Knight exhaled. "So did I."

  
"Well then. Prepare to die." The other Meta Knight chucked Meta Knight violently into the air before flying up to him with the silver Galaxia primed to strike.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cliffhanger


	12. Step 8: Get Kidnapped by Your Evil Clone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for mentions of blood

  
Kirby ran with panic on his way to Castle Dedede. The puffball's thoughts felt like they were running a mile a second as he tried to think of what he was going to say when he arrived. _Hey Dedede! I just met your sworn enemy and he got trapped in a magical mirror! Do you want to help me rescue him?_   The puffball stumbled. _See?! This isn'tgoing to work!_ The puffball's eyes drooped. _I wish it could. Kirby took a deep breath. I don't have a choice. If I tell Dedede or Bandee, they'll just start a fight with Meta Knight and the cycle will just start all over again. I have to do this alone!_ The puffball paused. _...I should at least tell someone, like Adeleine...just in case someone asks where I went._ Kirby nodded to himself and spun around once more to run to the castle.

  
\---

  
Adeleine looked behind her canvas back at the landscape. The Vegetable Valley was right in the middle of harvest and the fields were bustling with local farmers, the perfect challenge for a pictomancer/artist like Adeleine. _A scene like this requires a keen eye, a strong attention to detail and a lot of focus. Even one sudden sound or movement could completely throw me off; I need complete-_ Adeleine's inner monologue was cut off by the sound of loud giggling. Adeleine jerked her head around to see a skull faced figure walking with an odd gordo-headed biped.

  
_Hey, chuckle-hucks! Keep it down, will you!_ Adeleine said in her head. She wasn't rude enough to actually say that...but that didn't stop her from thinking that. Thankfully the two strangers left pretty soon and Adeleine returned to painting...until Kirby showed up, that is. When Adeleine looked over to him, the puffball was breathing very quickly and had a panicked look in his eyes; something that Adeleine never seen in Kirby before.

  
The artist hurriedly put down her paint and scrambled to the puffball's side. "Kirby? Hey, what's wrong-"

  
The puffball looked up to Adeleine, his pink face stained with tears but his blue eyes were blazing with determination. "Adeleine? Can you do me a favor?"

  
"Of course! Whatever you need, I'll-"

  
A strange darkness fell over the puffball's face. "I need you to keep a secret."

  
Adeleine's smile faded when she realized that Kirby was acting very and uncharacteristically serious."Yeah? What is it?"

  
The puffball closed his eyes and gestured for Adeleine to bring her ear closer, and Adeleine did. "I have something I need to do, but I might have to...disappear for a bit."

  
Adeleine's eyes began to sink with worry. "Disappear?"

  
Kirby nodded. "Yes, but nobody can know! Not even Dedede!"

  
The human girl looked at him with confusion. "Not even Dedede? Kirby, what's happened?"

  
The puffball swallowed. "Meta Knight's back, and he's in trouble. I know that he was banned from Dreamland, but now he's trapped in a magic mirror-" Kirby stopped himself. "Which, yes, sounds ridiculous, but I'm the only one who can help him!"

  
"So that's why you're telling me?"

  
"Yes. I want to help Meta Knight, not help Meta Knight get caught!" The puffball's eyes sank. "I thought that if any one would listen, it would be you."

  
The girl's eyebrow's furrowed. "I'm sorry Kirby, but I have to ask...is helping Meta Knight the right thing to do?"

  
Kirby looked at her as if he saw a ghost. "WHAT!? Of course it is! Helping people is always the right thing to do!"

  
"But Meta Knight declared WAR on Dreamland! He tried to overthrow Dedede! Maybe there's a reason-" Adeleine stopped when she saw Kirby begin to sob.

  
"I-I'm sorry." The puffball whimpered. "I know that Meta Knight is not a really nice person but-" The puffball let out a sob. "He's the only one like me!"

  
"W-what?"

  
Kirby sniffled. "He's a puffball. Just like me."

  
_The...The Knight of Nightmares is a puffball like Kirby?_ Adeleine's face contorted as she struggled to grasp this new concept before taking in a deep breath. _No, that's not important. But it's important to Kirby._ Adeleine placed a hand on Kirby's head. "Kirby. It's ok." She hugged the pink puff. "I won't tell a soul."

  
"Even Dedede?" The puffball whimpered from inside Adeleine's sweater.

  
_I...really don't want to lie to Dedede, but if he knew about this, Meta Knight would be removed from Dreamland again in a heartbeat._ Adeleine huffed. _And I refuse to do that to Kirby._ Adeleine clutched Kirby tighter. "Even Dedede."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight was thrown to the other side of the battlefield. Unfortunately, he landed on one of his nubby arms awkwardly and it twitched with pain. The fight had been going on for what felt like hours, and the knights were equally matched. However, the other Meta Knight was much more ruthless, and had no sense of honor on the battlefield. Meta Knight tried to get back on his feet, but felt himself be dragged across the ground by his cape.

  
"I win." The other knight said with a hidden, wicked smile.

  
_Not yet!_ Meta Knight gritted his teeth and swung Galaxia with all of his might across the other knight's mask. The other mask jumped back in pain and Meta Knight looked to Galaxia, and realized that there was scarlet liquid on the blade's tip.

  
Meta Knight gasped. _Dios mio...Galaxia! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to draw blood!_ Galaxia was Meta Knight's guardian and was as close as family to him. To tarnish her with the blood of an enemy...it went against everything the knight stood for.

  
The other knight raised his head, revealing a large slash on the right side of his mask and blood dripping down from it. The other Meta Knight growled. "You're going to pay for that." The other knight violently grabbed Meta Knight's cape once more and began dragging the indigo puffball away.

  
"Where...Where are you taking me!?" Meta Knight said, beginning to hyperventilate.

  
"Supposedly there's more than one Dimensional Mirror. There's other smaller ones that connect to pocket dimensions. I think that that will serve as a suitable cage for you until I decide what to do next" The other Meta Knight grumbled as he continued to drag Meta Knight away.

  
\---

  
"Are we clear?" The skull-faced figure whispered to their companion as they watched from behind a bush as Adeleine and Kirby departed.

  
"Yeah." The gordo-headed figure replied. "Did you get all of that, Axe?"

  
Axe Knight nodded. "Yep. Looks like the rumors were right, but it now it looks like Meta Knight is in trouble."

  
Mace Knight tilted their head. "And there's not much we can do about it. Any ideas? Should we follow Kirby?"

  
"Oh no, no, no, no." The shorter knight furiously shook their head. "This is way over our heads."

  
"That's what I thought, however-" Mace Knight put their helmet back on. "I have an idea."

  
Axe Knight eyes drooped. "Well I hope it's better then mine."

  
"Oh, Axey." Mace Knight said, petting Axe Knight's head. "I love your ideas, even if they're poorly thought out."

  
"You're sweet." The shorter knight murmured. "But seriously, what's the plan here."

  
Mace Knight clapped a fist into their palm. "It's time to get the band back together."

  
Axe Knight tilted their head and blinked.

  
The taller knight smirked. "I think Dreamland could use a couple of Meta-Knights right about now."

  
\---

  
"Drat." The shadowy Mirror-Meta Knight said under his breath.

  
Meta Knight raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong."

  
"Just look around."

  
Meta Knight looked around the abandoned coliseum, clouded by purple mist. As far as ancient battlefields went, Meta Knight would rate it as a 'I don't want to be here anymore'. The only thing really to note was that there was visible broken glass on the floor. Probably belonging to a mirror, given the context. Meta Knight felt the collar of his cape being tugged again.

  
"You can always count on the King of Bad Dreams to leave the kingdom in poor maintenance."

  
Meta Knight could only assume he was referring to Mirror-King Dedede.

  
"Good thing I come prepared." The other Meta Knight said, turning his head to a rusty cage fallen over at the edge of the building.

  
Meta Knight's throat felt dry. "Are you serious?"

  
The other Meta Knight just gave him a look.

  
"A-aye."

  
The other knight grabbed the cage and threw Meta Knight inside of it. "Don't worry. It's only temporary."

  
"So your brilliant plan is just that you're going to leave me here?!" Meta Knight snarled.

  
The other Meta Knight shrugged. "Sure. I'll still get some sleep tonight." And with that, he left.

  
\---

  
Trident Knight was lurking through the tall grasses of the Green Greens. _I have to work on my undercover fighting tactics. Keep my skills sharp._ Trident Knight tossed one of his signature tridents. _It hit a rock. Perfect._ Suddenly, Trident Knight heard the sound of rustling and cautiously peered through the brush. The figure was hard to make out, but that shade of pink was recognizable from anywhere. _It's Kirby. What's he up to?_ The knight crouched down further and focused in on the puffball. _Where ever he's going, he's sure moving in a hurry_. Trident Knight's attention was caught by the distinct sound of flapping wings. _Wait, that almost sounds like..._ The knight hurriedly tried to peek over the tall grass, and saw a pair of torn black, bat wings. _Meta Knight!? The_ knight crouched again as he heard a voice he hadn't heard in quite a while.

  
"Where do you think you're going, Kirby?" Meta Knight's voice asked, but there was something uncharacteristically sinister about it.

  
"I-" Kirby's voice paused. "I know you're not Meta Knight."

  
_He's not?_ Trident Knight looked over the grasses to get a better look. It was hard to tell at first, but when Trident Knight really looked at not-Meta Knight, he began to see what Kirby meant. This Meta Knight's body was charcoal instead of indigo, and his sword was silver instead of gold.

  
Not-Meta Knight scoffed. "You're more perceptive than I thought. I suppose you plan on saving my mirror-counterpart?"

  
"Bring Meta Knight back." The puffball replied simply.

  
"I'm right here." The masked knight snarled.

  
Trident Knight saw the other knight draw the Galaxia-replica and hid back behind the bushes. Trident Knight winced when he heard the distinct sound of Kirby's cry.

  
"What the-" Not-Meta Knight started before getting interrupted by four, high-pitched voices.

  
"Woah. OK, This is weird!"

  
Trident Knight thought he was hallucinated when he saw four different colored Kirbys all looking at each other looking about as bewildered as Not-Meta Knight and Trident Knight looked under their masks.

  
"I-" Not-Meta Knight glared at the silver sword. "Galaxia!" He growled at the sword.

  
_Guess this Meta Knight talks to his sword too._

  
The other knight unfolded his torn wings and flew off, and the four Kirbys were quick to follow while Trident Knight watched on. _A-Am I dreaming?_ The knight blinked, completely bewildered by the events that had just occurred. _OK. I'm going...to go...somewhere._ The knight waddled off, unsure of what happened and what to make of it.

  
\---

  
Dedede pinched his forehead. From the moment he heard that Meta Knight was back, it felt like everything Dedede had built, that he fixed, started to crumble. _Meta Knight's back, and..._ The king sighed. _He'd still make a better king than me._ The king continued to pace in his room when he heard a knock on his door.

  
"Dedede? Are you OK?"

  
The king sighed. "Come in, Bandee."

  
The door gently creaked open to reveal Bandanna Dee with a concerned expression on his face.

  
The king adjusted his robe. "Any updates?"

  
The waddle dee gulped. "Nope."

  
Dedede scowled at him.

  
Bandanna Dee murmured to himself. "It's really nothing though." The waddle dee sighed. "OK, Dooloo said she might've saw Meta Knight-"

  
"What do you mean 'might have'!?" Dedede yelled, panicked.

  
The waddle dee crossed his arms. "Well, I have my doubts, if only because I was right next to her when she saw it, but I didn't see anything! So I-" Bandee paused when he saw Dedede pinching his forehead again. "Sorry. But I really think that this is just a fluke."

  
"I don't care if it's a fluke! I've done a lot in the last year and I'm not about to have that masked menace take that away from me!" Dedede exclaimed.

  
"Dedede! Relax!" Bandee replied. "You're absolutely right! Things have changed! If Meta Knight tries to attack us again, this time he's going to be facing you, me, Dooloo, a prodigal pictomancer, and Kirby!"

  
As if on cue, Adeleine hastily walked through the hallway, behind Bandanna Dee.

  
"Hey, Adeleine! Have you heard anything about Meta Knight?" Bandanna Dee asked, stopping the girl in her tracks.

  
"Nope." The young artist replied. "I was painting at the Vegetable Valley all day today, and I didn't see anything out of place. Sorry." She adjusted her beret. "I'll tell you if anything comes up, Triple-D." The girl walked away.

  
"See!" Bandee said. "Adeleine is easily the most detailed-focus person we know and she didn't see anything! This is all in your head."

  
The king sighed. "M-maybe your right." _Adeleine's like the niece or...daughter I never had! I trust her judgement more than my own._ The king paused.  _Still, though...where's Kirby in all of this?_

  
\---

  
"Here we are." The Mirror-Meta Knight said as he dragged Meta Knight, now free from the cage but with both of his hands tied, into the Dimensional Mirror and into a coliseum suspended by the foamy clouds.

  
"Do I get to go home now?"

  
"No." He stopped before a smaller mirror. "This'll do." He shoved Meta Knight inside of the mirror; Meta Knight wasn't sure whether or not he was glad the mirror didn't shatter on impact or if he wish it did.

  
"I'm almost tempted to chuck my Galaxia in there with you."

  
"Might I ask why?"

  
Mirror-Meta Knight grumbled. "My sword seems to think of herself as a trickster; I'll leave it at that."

  
"Bad news for you, because my Galaxia-" Meta Knight was about to slash on his side of the mirror with the golden blade until the other knight starting waggling his finger.

  
"Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't do that if I were you." He knocked on the mirror. "Surely you know that breaking mirrors is bad luck!" He said sarcastically.

  
_To be fair, I don't really won't to find out what happens if I shatter my only window home._ "What do you have to gain from keeping me here?" The indigo puffball growled.

  
The darker knight shrugged. "I haven't figured that out yet. I'm going to run it by the King and see what he wants to do."

  
If this Meta Knight was the darker version of Meta Knight, he didn't want to picture what a dark Dedede looked like.

  
"Well, then. Toodles." The other knight waved condescendingly before walking out of Meta Knight's now stagnant view.

  
_Well now._ Galaxia's voice started. _I see that you've finally paid for your hubris._

  
_Is this seriously what you're thinking about right now!?_

  
_Sorry for wanting to lighten the mood._ Galaxia snarked.

  
The masked knight took a deep breath. _No one's going to rescue us. I've doomed us._

  
_Don't lose hope. There is still a chance._

  
_What chance could we possibly have!?_

  
_Well, there's at least one more person that saw you get dragged into the Dimensional Mirror._

  
Meta Knight blinked. _Kirby?_

  
_Look outside._

  
Meta Knight peered past the glass that was trapping him and saw a pink puffball hop through the Coliseum, his eyes glistening with courage. The knight exhaled. _How is it that I'm putting so much faith into a child?_

Galaxia hummed.  _I like to think it's because I did the same thing many eons ago._

Meta Knight knew that she was referring to him.

 

 

 


	13. Step 9 : Investigate the Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> last chapter was mk heavy chapter, so this one is a ddd heavy chapter! with the help of some familiar faces

  
"Alright, Let's go down the role call." Mace Knight began, holding a list of names. "Axe Knight?"

  
"I came here with you! Why do you need to check me?" Axe Knight asked.

  
"Because I'm very thorough." The purple-armored knight said under their breath. "Javelin Knight?"

  
The red-armored knight saluted. "Here!"

  
"Trident Knight?"

  
The knight with the moon-symbol helmet raised his golden trident. "Here."

  
"Sword Knight? Blade Knight?"

  
"We're both here." Sword Knight replied and Blade Knight simply nodded.

  
"Sailor Waddle Dee?"

  
The waddle dee had been brooming the back of the Halberd Hangar when he heard his name called. "Huh? Did someone say my name?"

  
"Yeah, little dee! Get over here!" Axe gestured enthusiastically.

  
The waddle dee dropped his broom and scrambled over to the group of knights.

  
"I'll say it again." Mace Knight quirked an eyebrow. "Sailor Waddle Dee?"

  
The sailor's eyes widened. "Wait. I'm on the role call?"

  
"Uh. Duh!" Javelin Knight replied while Mace Knight walked over and affectionately messed up the sailor's cap.

  
"I don't care what Dedede says, you're a Meta-Knight! Through and through!" Axe exclaimed. "And right now, we're going to need to all hands on deck!"

  
"And they mean that quite literally." Mace Knight whispered to Sailor Dee.

  
"Huh?" The sailor mouthed, somewhat puzzled.

  
Javelin Knight threw a large blueprint onto the floor. From what Sailor could tell, the paper showed some sort of schematic of the ocean floor and a very familiar, masked structure.

  
"The Halberd!?" The waddle dee exclaimed.

  
Javelin nodded. "Precisely! Thanks to the radars we placed inside of the Halberd, I managed to locate it's exact location! The plan is that we're going to rebuild it while it's underwater, and since it's already built with submarine functionality, we'll be able to breach it and get it working properly again!"

  
"That sounds really complicated." The waddle dee replied.

  
"Well, I'm really smart." The red-armored knight retorted. "And it'll still be easier than rebuilding it from scratch! Especially without bird-brain's help." Javelin murmured that last bit, probably because they didn't want to admit that the Halberd probably wouldn't have been constructed as quickly as it was without Captain Vul's help.

  
Mace Knight stepped forward. "I admit that this will take a lot of work, but I have faith that we can pull this off!"

  
"Plus I already paid for all the scuba gear and equipment we'll need, so it's kinda too late to turn back now." Axe whispered.

  
\---

  
It has been two days since Kirby dissappeared (Dedede really didn't like that word), and at this point, the king was starting to get really concerned; so concerned that he felt compelled to leave the castle and search for the puffball himself. Even though Dedede has gotten more friendly lately, he still hasn't actually traveled through Dreamland by himself; so this was new for him. The thing that first struck him that at the base of Mt. Dedede, the waddle dees and waddle doos built a town, Waddleville; he didn't even know that was there until now. After being bombarded by a crowd of loyal subjects in the village, the king quickly left the village to go to Green Greens, where Kirby supposedly lived.

  
The Green Greens was primarily nothing but grasslands, however, there were a handful of houses located throughout the prairies, one of them likely belonging to Kirby. _At least this should be easy._ Dedede thought. The king approached the first house, and something was immediately jarring about it. The outside of the house was covered with cobwebs and dust and the only thing in the yard was an old, deflated red and blue beach ball. _This is officially the most depressing beach vacation I've ever seen. They don't even have a beach!_ Dedede walked to the houses wooden door and gave it a knock. No reply. _Alright, on to the next house._  The state of the first house didn't help alleviate the king's fears about Kirby's whereabouts at all. Dedede arrived at the next house and was relieved to be greeted by familiar face.

  
"OH! Hello King Dededede!" Gooey greeted the king.

  
"It's...King Dedede." The king scratched his head. "Say, Gooey? Have you seen Kirby?"

  
The blue blob's eyes usual goofy smile faded to frown. "...No. I haven't seen him a couple of days."

  
The king sighed. "That's what I was afraid of. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

  
Gooey tapped his head with his tongue. "Well, it's never a bad idea to check at his house. I'll ask Rick, Kine, Coo, Pitch and Chuchu if they've seen anything too."

  
Dedede hesitantly shook Gooey's tongue with his hand. "Uh...thanks Gooey. I really appreciate it."

  
"Oh no! It should be I thanking you!" The blob's goofy smile returned. "I can't wait to tell the others that I shook tongues with the King of Dreamland!"

  
Dedede nervously laughed. "Hahaha!...Don't word it like that."

  
And so the king went to the third house. The third house was surrounded by these lovely, colorful flowers and the house, in general, looked very well kept. Dedede carefully stepped over the flowers and into the houses yard and began to circle the house. There were several windows that peeked into the house, but Dedede kept a safe distance to avoid being rude. _It's no castle, but it's a pretty nice house. I wonder who lives here?_ Dedede did a double-take as he passed by a crude doodle of what appeared to Kirby, Adeleine, Ribbon, Bandanna Dee and himself. Dedede took a closer look on the drawing on the house's wall; the quality of the scribble immediately reminded of the drawings that Kirby would make when Adeleine would attempt to teach him how to draw. _This is Kirby's house, unless he leads a secret life as a graffiti artist I didn't know about!_ Dedede squinted his eyes. _Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me._

  
The king carefully drifted over to the house's door and gave the doorknob a shake. No response. _That's strange. Even if Kirby isn't here, I'd figure that at least a family member would be home._ Dedede felt his heart stop as a thought occurred to him that hadn't before. _Does...Kirby even have a family?_ Dedede knew that Adeleine didn't have a family, that's why he let her live in the castle. _But Kirby's just a little kid! And he lives alone?_ The king grit his teeth. Dedede stepped back before ramming into the wooden door, breaking the door from it's hinges. The king slowly brought himself up from the floor and looked around the small house.

  
The house was just as quaint on it's inside as it was on it's outside. The room had very minimal furniture, only including a fridge, a small coffee table (Dedede doubted that Kirby actually drank coffee though), several wooden chairs and a singular Kirby-sized bed. No Kirby, however, was to be found. The king sighed as he sat down on one of the chairs. Great. I broke down Kirby's door for nothing. Dedede's eyes drifted to the coffee table and several crumpled pieces of paper. _C'mon. You already broke the door. You don't need to uncrumble that paper._ Dedede impatiently tapped his foot before succumbing to his impulsiveness and furiously straightened the paper. The paper was just another crude doodle drawn by Kirby, though it's the content of the drawing that was most puzzling. It appeared to be a self-portrait of Kirby, but it was colored dark blue instead of pink. _Did...Kirby use up his pink crayon or something?_ Dedede paused when he saw a crude golden sword drawn in the strange Kirby's hand. _Haven't I seen a sword like that before...?_ The king felt his stomach flip. _This is Meta Knight. This is Meta Knight! This is Meta Knight!?_ Dedede stumbled away from the table, tripping on one of the chairs. _Meta Knight and Kirby are the same species._ The king face-palmed. _Duh. This explains everything!_ The king jumped up, clenching his fists. _Meta Knight returning and Kirby going missing can't be a coincidence, and I'm not about to let this go._

  
\---

  
Dooloo handed a stack of fliers to a group of waddle dees. "Alright! I'm going to need you guys to post these posters everywhere you can! Why, go ahead and pin a couple of these to Whispy Woods for all I care!" She exclaimed.

  
"Uh, Colonel?" One of the waddle dees started. "I think you might have printed these wrong." They handed her back two different fliers. "You accidentally printed Kirby's face on the 'wanted' posters and Meta Knight's on the 'missing' posters."

  
"Oh, those must be the wanted posters from a couple of years back!" Dooloo took some of the papers and began shredding them into pieces. "Well! Back to the drawing board!"

  
Bandanna Dee walked up to the group, a spear in hand. "Dooloo, I'm going to take a trip down to the Orange Ocean."

  
"WHAT!?" Dooloo dropped the heavy stack of fliers she took from the waddle dees. "Now is hardly the time for a beach vacation!"

  
"Yeah, like you're one to talk." The waddle dee murmured to himself. "Nobody has checked the Orange Ocean yet, even though that that entire area used to be Meta Knight's base of operations! I think that that warrants some investigation." Bandanna explained.

  
"Can this wait? I may be a genius, but even I have my work cut out for me right now." Dooloo released a small eye-laser and began to burn the papers on the floor. "BURN PAPERS! BURN!"

  
The waddle dee captain crossed his arms. "The last time we ignored the Orange Ocean, Meta Knight built an entire battleship right under our noses! Someone's gotta check, and it might as well be me!"

  
Dooloo stopped burning the papers and looked at Bandee. "If you're going to be so adamant about it, very well. At least leave the castle will be left in my careful hands!" She said before releasing another eye beam onto the papers.

  
"Right..."

  
\---

  
_When I find Meta Knight, I'm going to tie him to a chair and throw him against something!_ The king grumbled. _No, that's too violent._ _When I find him, I'm going have Adeleine paint funny pictures all over his stupid mask and make him my royal court jester!...No. that's too silly!_ The king looked up to the clear sky and sighed. _Have I seriously not thought about what I was going to do to punish Meta Knight if he came back?_

  
"Oh! Dedede!" Dedede peered down the beach and saw Bandanna Dee waving his spear towards him.

"Hey, BD! What are you doing out here?" Dedede said as the waddle dee ran over to him.

  
Bandee skidded to a stop. "I'm surveying the Orange Ocean! I thought that we might be able to find Meta Knight here!"

  
The king nodded. "Same here. Any sign of Kirby?"

  
The waddle dee's brown eyes drooped. "No. Dooloo printed out the wrong fliers so we have to redo them. Nobody at the Castle has heard anything either."

  
The king lowered his head. "I see." Realizing he was showing weakness, the king lifted his beak and tried to put on his best 'serious' face. "So. Any idea where in the Orange Ocean Meta Knight might be?"

  
"Well, I've already checked the docks, so I was either going to go looking for the Halberd Hangar or Meta Knight's Tower."

  
"Meta Knight's Tower is all the way over the cove, near the Dream Fountain." _Fun memories those were, huh?_ "I say that we should try to find the Hangar first."

  
The waddle dee saluted. "Yes, sir! Let's get searching right away!"

  
The waddle dee and the king carefully trekked into the tropical forest to begin their search for the facility that formerly housed the incredible flying Halberd.

  
\---

  
Javelin Knight tapped away on their make-shift computer monitor and pressed a small button on their visor. "How's it going down there?"

  
The monitor displayed a first-person visual feed from beneath the ocean, where several of the Meta-Knights were carefully tinkering away at the sunken Halberd. Javelin's modifications to the scuba gear allowed for an infinite oxygen supply, so nobody was in any real danger.

  
"It's going good." Mace Knight's voice replied. "We might have to emerge soon; we're out of steel plating."

  
"And the Halberd?" Javelin asked.

  
"Still full of holes."

  
"That's to be expected." Javelin replied. "It could take months to get the ship out of water; let alone running again. We just have to stay diligent."

  
"Roger." Mace replied before Javelin heard another voice in his helmet.

  
"Hey, Javelin! We've got a problem!"

  
"What is it, Sails?"

  
\---

  
Sailor Dee peered through his telescope on top of the giant, open doors of the hangar. "It's King Dedede! He's getting close to the hangar!"

  
The radio Javelin installed into Sailor Dee's cap buzzed. "Dedede's here!? We have to close the hangar doors! Get down from there and get inside!"

  
"Aye, aye!" The sailor said before skidding down the side of the door and scurrying into the hangar.

  
\---

  
"Dedede! We found it!" Bandanna pointed above the palm trees to the two, gigantic steel panels protruding from the ground.

  
"Nice eye, BD! Let's get a move on!"

  
The two began to sprint towards the structure as a large, metallic, clanking sound began to go off in the distance.

  
"Dang it!" Dedede yelled. "They're trying to shut us out!"

  
"Let's hurry then!" Bandanna replied.

  
\---

  
"Can't the doors close any faster!?" Javelin screeched.

  
Sailor Dee pulled on his cap with anxiety. "I just oiled the hinges yesterday! This is as fast as they can go!" Sailor Dee peered through his telescope again towards the land entrance of the hangar, where he saw a waddle dee wearing a blue bandanna and a birb-folk dressed in red robes, a giant wooden mallet in his hands. "I-I-I-IT'S KING DEDEDE!!!"

  
Javelin hastily pressed the button their visor. "You guys, get over here! Dedede's found us!"

  
"W-W-What should we do!?" Sailor Dee cried.

  
"Try to buy us some time! I'll try to get everyone else over here!" Javelin shouted before tapping away at their computer.

  
Sailor Dee gulped as he began to slowly tread over to Dreamland's King and the Captain of the Dreamland Guard.

  
\---

  
"Who's that?" Dedede squinted his eyes as another waddle dee approached the two of them.

  
Bandee sighed. "You do realize that not all waddle dees know each other? Also, he was there when you banned Meta Knight."

  
The king gripped his hammer. "Yeah, I remember now."

  
The waddle dee in the sailor hat stumbled as he joined the King and Bandanna Dee. "Uh...pleasure to see you, Your Majesty."

  
Dedede sighed. "Listen. I'm really not looking for a fight. I just need you to answer some questions for me."

  
"O-OK..." The sailor murmured.

  
"Do you know where Meta Knight is?" The king said with clear disdain.

  
The sailor blinked. "Sir Meta Knight? He's back in Dreamland, right?"

  
Dedede began to swing his hammer before Bandanna Dee stopped. "Dedede! Control yourself!" Bandanna turned to the other waddle dee. "You don't know where he is?"

  
The sailor shook his head. "NO! If anything, I thought that you guys must have captured him by now! I know just as much as you guys do!"

  
"Do you know where Kirby is?" Dedede asked suddenly.

  
The smaller waddle dee tilted his head."Kirby? What happened to Kirby?" the waddle dee's response was followed by awkward silence.

  
"Wow, you're really out of the loop." Bandanna Dee replied flatly.

  
"I-" Dedede exhaled. "Nevermind. Sorry for bothering you."

  
"Dedede." Bandanna Dee said. "I recognize that person other there. They're a Meta-Knight."

  
\---

  
Uh oh. Javelin Knight thought as they saw the king approach them from their peripheral vision. _Drat. I guess Sailor Dee failed to stall them out._ Javelin Knight shut down the computer. _Time for drastic measures._ Just as Javelin began to scuttle over to Dedede, five figures swept down from the roof in between Javelin Knight and Dedede.

  
"Stop right there, King Dedede! Unless you want to invoke the wrath of the Meta-Knights!" Axe said brandishing their weapon.

  
The king stumbled backwards as Bandanna Dee ran over to the knights, his spear in hand. "Axe Knight! What is the meaning of this!?"

  
Dedede brought himself back onto his feet. "I thought I told you guys that the Meta-Knights were not allowed to regroup under any circumstances!"

  
Trident Knight scoffed. "Well, things have changed, your Majesty."

  
Mace Knight swung their morning-star around. "Listen, Dedede, you can either get out of our hangar, or we can do this the easy way."

  
"That...That was the easy way!"

  
"No, sweetie, this is the easy way." Axe Knight launched themselves, axe first at the king before Javelin grabbed them and pulled them back.

  
"AXE KNIGHT! THIS ACTION IS INCREDIBLY ILL-ADVISED!" Javelin Knight screeched "THE PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS IS APPROXIMATELY-"

  
Before Javelin Knight could finish that thought, Sailor Dee jumped in front of the king. "Y-Your Majesty, Please give us a chance to explain!"

  
The shouting from the two parties ended and the group carefully stepped way from each other.

  
"Wow, that actually worked?" Sailor Dee whispered before shaking his head and regaining his focus. "Uh, can we talk about this? You know, like, civilized knights and kings?"

  
The two groups looked each other before nodding or uttering some sort of answer of agreement.

  
Sailor clapped his hands together. "Great! So...Mace Knight! What do you want to do?"

  
"Well, I just want to hang out with my friends again. We weren't even doing anything wrong!"

  
"Dedede." Sailor continued. "What do you want?"

  
"I want to find Meta Knight and Kirby." The king grumbled.

  
"Well, that means we have something in common!" Sailor Dee replied. "We both want to find Meta Knight!"

  
"Yeah, but for different reasons." Dedede retorted.

  
"Maybe so." Axe Knight answered. "But Kirby's missing, right?"

  
The king raised an eyebrow. "Yeah..."

  
"Here's an idea-" Mace Knight interjected. "You seem to be running low on staff, and we're running low on a leader."

  
"Uh, Dedede?" Bandanna Dee whispered. "Are they suggesting what I think they are?"

  
The conversation paused until Dedede interjected. "Are you asking me if you can help me find Kirby?"

  
The knights looked at each other and then shrugged. "I guess we are." Axe Knight replied. "On one condition though."

  
"Meta Knight's not getting off scott-free." Dedede growled.

  
"That's not what I was suggesting." Axe Knight continued.

  
"We have some code of honor, you know?" Mace Knight said. "No, all we want is for the Meta-Knights to be allowed to meet each other."

  
"And full access to the hangar!" Javelin's shrill voice intercepted.

  
Dedede scratched his chin as Bandee whispered into the king's ear. "If Kirby's in danger, we'll need all the help we can get. This might not be a bad idea."

  
The king swung his hammer over his shoulder. "Alright. I'm in."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight had no way of telling how long he's been trapped in that accursed mirror by now. He would, however, see Kirby occasionally dash through the halls, collecting the magic mirror shards that would release Meta Knight so that he may soon return home.

  
_Getting bored yet?_ Galaxia's voice echoed within his mind.

  
_I'm a patient person. I can wait._

  
_Liar._

  
Meta Knight rolled his eyes to Galaxia's snide remark.

  
_So if we do get freed, what are your next plans?_

  
_I'm going to beat the life out of my mirror counterpart._ Meta Knight growled.

  
_If he doesn't beat the life out of you._ Galaxia replied.

  
Meta Knight breathed in. Galaxia had a point.

  
_What about Kirby? He seems to be adamant about keeping you around. What are you going to do about that?_

  
_Kirby's a child with childish ideals. Even if I wanted too, I couldn't stay in Dreamland; I'm a wanted criminal-_

  
_Do you want to go back to Dreamland?_ The ethereal voice interrupted.

  
The masked knight sighed. _I'd say that anything would be better than being trapped in a magic mirror._

  
_True. But I'm being serious._

  
The puffball paused and entered deep thought. _I...I could use a break from all of the fighting. I could work on renovating the knight's Tower; or maybe even rebuild the Halberd if I really wanted too._

  
_Would you try to takeover Dreamland again?_

  
Meta Knight paused for a moment. _Well, that's the question, now is it?_

 

 


	14. Step 10: Find the Truth

  
"I can't believe they actually bought that." Axe said as they saw Dedede and Bandee exit the hangar.

  
"I can't believe we actually came up with the same lie." Javelin said.

  
"So what now?" Sailor Dee asked.

  
"If this plan is going to work, we're going to have to live up to some of our promises." Mace Knight pointed at Blade Knight and Sword Knight. "Blade, Sword, you two go to Castle Dedede and try to find Sir Meta Knight. The rest of us will work on repairing the Halberd for now."

  
"You can count on us, Mace!" Sword Knight saluted before running off with Blade.

  
Sailor Dee looked to Mace Knight with concern in his eyes. "I know that we made that up on the spot, but are we really against finding Kirby?"

  
"What!? Of course we're not!" Axe interjected. "Sure, Kirby was the reason the Halberd crashed in the first place, but he's still a hero! I want to find him almost as much as Meta Knight!"

  
Mace Knight turned to Sailor Dee. "It's just that we have other priorities right now, and I'm not so keen on trusting King Dedede so easily; but it's not like we have many other options." Mace admitted.

  
"For now let's just get back to work. We'll decide what to do next when something comes up." Javelin said before scuttling back over to their computer.

  
"R-roger..." Sailor Dee said weakly. _I really don't want us to go to war with Dreamland again right now._ The waddle dee sighed. _Meta Knight, if you're really in Dreamland, please don't start another fight with Dedede._

  
\---

  
_Kirby's back with another shard._

  
Meta Knight perked and peered though his prison wall where he saw Kirby place another mirror shard within it's frame. However, the puffball's face seemed sadder than usual. _What's wrong with Kirby?_ The knight thought to himself.

  
Kirby seemed to stare back at Meta Knight again, even though Meta Knight has deduced that at this point, Kirby can't actually see Meta Knight.

  
_I think he's worried about you._ Galaxia mused.

  
The knight frowned. _I'm perfectly fine, if not a little cramped._ Meta Knight saw the pink puffball's sky-blue eyes begin to water. The knight was suddenly overcome with a desire to break out of his prison and tell Kirby that everything was fine and that he was doing a great job...Of course, Meta Knight couldn't actually do that.

  
_When I returned to Popstar, I was shocked._ The knight began.

  
_Whatever do you mean?_

  
_I thought that Popstar was about to be destroyed by that Dark Matter we found, but when we returned, everything was as it was when we left._

  
_I'd almost argue that things had gotten better since we left._

  
Meta Knight raised an eyebrow. _What do you mean?_

  
Galaxia chuckled. _Didn't you notice? Kirby said that he wanted to get the King to unban you. That implies that he's now friends with Dedede!_

  
_Those two are friends?_ As Meta Knight asked Galaxia that, Kirby wiped his tears away and seemed to regain his determination before running off once more.

  
_Well, of course, we won't know for sure until we ask Kirby himself._

  
Meta Knight peered down at the transparent wall trapping him in the pocket dimension when he realized that there was only one shard piece missing from the panel. _There's only one piece left! All Kirby has to do is bring it back and we'll be free!_

  
_It's strange to hear you sound optimistic for once._ Galaxia replied.

  
\---

  
Dedede sighed dejectedly as he strode back to the throne room. _We still have no idea where Kirby is. And we don't know where Meta Knight is either._ The king pinched his forehead. _Is there something I missed? Surely someone has to have seen something at this point. It's been about a week!_ Dedede looked up to see Adeleine walk down the hall, her eyes looking down to the floor.

  
"Hey Addie!" The king greeted her. "Are you OK? You seem kinda down in the dumps." _To be fair, I'm not doing much better..._

  
The girl seemed to have been startled by Dedede's observation and immediately straightened her posture and changed her expression. "What? No, I'm fine, Triple-D! If anything I'm more worried about you."

  
The king frowned. "Adeleine, I'm being serious. I know you're worried about Kirby too."

 

Adeleine glanced away from the king. "I am..."

  
"Well, don't worry!" Dedede slapped a hand onto her shoulder. "I have the entire Dreamland Guard looking for him right now! Not to mention Kirby is virtually indestructible; this will all blow over before you know it." _At least I hope that will be the case._

  
"But what about Meta Knight?" Adeleine asked.

  
Dedede sighed. _Way to bring up the one problem I have with this whole situation._ The king crossed his arms. "We still don't know for sure whether or not Meta Knight even has anything to do with Kirby's disappearance; so for now, let's just focus on finding out where Kirby went. Alright?"

  
A faint smile replaced Adeleine's frown. "Oh, OK. Thanks." The girl nodded and strode back down the hall of the castle.

  
Dedede felt like something was off though. _Adeleine...does she know something I don't?_

  
_\---_

  
_Only one shard left. Kirby should be back any moment now!_ Meta Knight thought, trying to reassure himself.

  
The knight's self pep-talk was cut off by the sound of a roaring gust going off from behind him. Meta Knight spun his head around to see his mirror counterpart, who had apparently just teleported himself into Meta Knight's prison.

  
"Change of plans." Mirror-Meta Knight growled before swinging the silver-Galaxia through thin air, creating a dimensional rift.

  
_Are you capable of doing that!?_ Meta Knight asked Galaxia in his head.

  
_Of course I'm not! If I was, we wouldn't have spent the last week trapped in a magical mirror!_ Galaxia retorted.

  
Mirror-Meta Knight grabbed Meta Knight's cape and quickly tossed him into the rift, before following him.

  
"Care to explain what is going on!?" Meta Knight asked.

  
"Kirby found the last mirror shard, but the boss of my boss has decided that you might have use to us."

  
Meta Knight looked behind him to see a giant, armored figure descend behind him. The figure was mostly humanoid in shape; save for the giant flaming sphere making up the figure's torso.

  
"Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Dark Mind." Dark Meta Knight said, kneeling before his supposed master.

  
_That energy...I know that energy!_   Galaxia flashed.

  
Meta Knight found himself staring at the flaming orb. _If this universe is a reflection of our own, does that mean...?_ A distinct, volcanic eye opened upon the sphere of flame.

  
_It's Dark Matter!_   Galaxia cried.

  
"Dark Mind's old vessel has outstayed it's welcome, and my king isn't exactly keen on playing puppet either. So I thought that you might be able to fill a role that will make everyone happy!" The other Meta Knight said with a sinister smile.

  
Meta Knight flinched as Dark Mind gripped clutched the him with one of it's giant, detached hands.

  
"Kirby will stop you!" Meta Knight cried with defiance.

  
The other knight scoffed. "You're putting all of your faith into a child." The knight scowled. "You must be the most pathetic 'strongest warrior in the galaxy' ever."

  
Meta Knight braced himself as Dark Mind teleported itself out of the current dimensional plane. The new landscape the knight found himself in was drenched in broiling, orange flame. _I'm not giving up!_ Meta Knight kicked Dark Mind's hand with all of his might, releasing the knight from the monster's iron grip. The knight spread his wings and quickly flapped away from the blazing ground below and gripped onto Galaxia.

  
_You intend to fight this beast!?_ Galaxia said, sounding flabbergasted.

  
_I'm the strongest warrior in the galaxy! It's time I start acting like it!_ Meta Knight slashed Galaxia straight down the flaming eye, prompting the creature to release a gurgling scream. _Looks like Halcandran magic is just as toxic to Dark Mind as it is to Dark Matter. Good to know._ Dark Mind's vessel stretched its hands forwards, releasing several mirror portals, one of which slammed itself into Meta Knight. For a split second, as he was being sent flying, Meta Knight looked into one of these mirrors and saw Kirby fighting Dark Meta Knight from within one of the pocket realms. _I have to get to Kirby!_ Meta Knight twisted himself mid-air and hastily tried to fly into the mirror, only for Dark Mind to strike him with a blast of dark magic.

  
_Meti!_ Galaxia's cry almost went unnoticed as Meta Knight could only think about the blistering scorch mark that had now formed between his wings.

  
The knight hissed in pain as he flapped his wings again, catching himself from landing face first onto the burning floor. _Kirby...!_ Meta Knight tried to once more to fly into one of the levitating mirror panels, distinctly aware that one more attack from Dark Mind could prove fatal.

  
\---

  
"Thanks for the lift, Kracko." Dedede said before hopping of the cloud monster's head.

  
"ANYTIME, YOUR MAJESTY! BUT I HAVE TO ASK WHY YOU NEEDED TO GO THE BUBBLY CLOUDS IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Kracko replied.

  
"Just needed to do some surveying, that's all." The king asserted before gesturing for Sword Knight and Blade Knight to follow him. "C'mon, guys. Let's hustle." The knights simply nodded before following the king into one of the floating buildings suspended in Dreamland's skies.

  
_Dreamland's king is so lazy!_ Dedede said to himself, mocking a certain masked knight's voice. _Yeah, well, we'll see where the hammer falls when I find you, mask-head._ Dedede marched onward through ruins as night began to fall once more upon Dreamland.

  
"Your Majesty." Sword Knight started. "What makes you think that Meta Knight or Kirby would be hiding up here?" The knight's question was left ignored as the group saw another figure float up to the ruins.

  
It was hard to make out, but the figure appeared to be riding a miniature Kracko and they were wearing a distinct, red beret.

  
_It's Adeleine._ Dedede sighed. _I figured._

  
Adeleine hopped off of her Kracko doodle before the animation poofed out of sight. The human girl than ran off further into the ruins, seemingly having not noticed King Dedede and his companions.

  
"Quickly! We have to follow Adeleine!" Dedede said to his followers before the group ran after the girl into the temple ahead.

  
The group entered a giant coliseum that was being suspended by the clouds. The structure was absolutely littered with several intrinsically designed mirrors, with one much larger mirror standing in the building's center, with Adeleine standing before it.

  
"Wait here." Dedede told the two knights quietly. "Adeleine! What are you doing here!?"

  
The girl jumped upon hearing Dedede's voice and pushed her back against the mirror. "Dedede? What are YOU doing here!? Have you been following me?"

  
_I'm sorry, Addie. I really am. But I have to do this._ "Adeleine, have you been hiding something from me?"

  
The girl's brown eyes widened. "W-what? No! Of course not! I wouldn't lie to you, Triple-D-" The mirror behind her seemed to flash with color; almost as if it had just displayed an explosion.

  
"Adeleine." Dedede started. "Do you where Kirby is?"

  
Adeleine shut her mouth close as if she was trying to figure out a strategy for how she would respond.

  
\---

  
"Kirby!" Meta Knight said as he crashed through the portal and landed on the battlefield next to the pink puffball. Now where's- Meta Knight looked up to see the other Meta Knight lying on the floor, his mask having been cleaved in two.

  
"Meta Knight! You're here!" four voices chirped with joy.

  
_Wait, what the-_ Meta Knight turned around to four multi-colored Kirbys, each of them with different copy abilities, all looking up to him with glimmering eyes.

  
"Meta Knight!" The original Kirby said walking up to him. "Y-you're alright!" The pink puffball tackled the knight, catching him a hug.

  
"I-I" Meta Knight pushed Kirby off of him, distinctly aware of how awkward the hug felt. "Thank you, Kirby. You rescued me. Still though-" Meta Knight looked over to the red, green and yellow Kirby. "I have to ask about them."

  
The puffball's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! Funny story, actually! Dark Meta Knight's sword apparently duplicated me into four different parts. See, the green Kirby is called 'Apple', the yellow Kirby is 'Sunny', and the red Kirby is 'Tomato'! And basically we've been traveling though the Mirror World collecting all the mirror shards!"

  
_You know, both you and I have duplication magic, Meta Knight. Perhaps my mirror counter-part decided to duplicate Kirby as a prank?_   Galaxia explained.

  
"There's also a mirror-me running around, too!" Kirby continued. "We just call him 'Shadow'."

  
"Uh-huh." Was the only reply Meta Knight could come up with, as he was frankly at a lost for words at this point.

  
Suddenly, Meta Knight heard a terrible hacking sound from the other side of the battlefield, and turned around to see his mirror counterpart hoisting himself back onto his feet, his scarred right eye twitching with fury.

  
"This isn't over!" The other knight was shuddering. "Dark Mind will have it's new vessel!"

  
"Dark Mind?" Kirby asked, clearly unaware of what exactly Dark Meta Knight was referring too.

  
"Kirby, Dark Mind is a terribly powerful being that tries to possess anything that tries to defy it!" Meta Knight explained. "It's being of pure dark matter-"

  
"Dark Matter? I've beaten Dark Matter before!" Kirby replied.

  
"W-what...?" _Are you telling me that Kirby has defeated Dark Matter? The creature responsible for the enslavement and destruction of half the universe?_

  
The puffball nodded. "Yep! Three times actually! But those times I had some magic artifact to use against it. My copy attacks don't seem to affect Dark Matter much. I need some sort of macguffin in order to defeat it."

  
_Meta Knight, I have an idea._ Galaxia said.

  
_And what would that be?_

  
_Give me to Kirby._

  
_What!? No! Galaxia! I can fight Dark Mind! That way you and Kirby-_ Just as Meta Knight stretched out his wings, the scorch mark on his back began to sting, causing the knight to topple over.

  
"Meta Knight!" Kirby cried.

  
_Meta Knight! You're seriously injured! You have to trust me! I promise that no matter what happens, I will keep Kirby safe; but I have to protect you as well!_

  
Meta Knight's eyes sunk with concern. _But, Galaxia, this is all my fault! I'm not about to have Kirby put himself in harm's way again just for me!_

  
_Quit being so self-sacrificing! You heard it from Kirby himself! He's already beaten Dark Matter before; thrice! Have faith in him!_

  
The knight clenched his eyes shut as he wrestled with his thoughts one last time. The burn on his back really hurt. The knight sighed. "Kirby, come here."

  
The puffball crouched down next to him.

  
"Here. Take my sword." Meta Knight handed Galaxia to the puffball, his eyes reflecting her fiery, golden glow. "Her name is Galaxia."

  
Kirby let out an 'Ooo' sound.

  
_Hello, star-child._ Galaxia said softly.

  
"YOUR SWORD TALKS!?" Kirby proclaimed.

  
Meta Knight felt a light chuckle escaped from his mouth. "Yes, she does, and she's also designed for fighting creatures such as Dark Matter." The knight placed a glove onto Kirby's head. "Both of us are putting our faith in you. You're our only hope of fleeing from this realm." Meta Knight looked to Kirby. "We believe in you."

  
Kirby shut his previously agape mouth and nodded, his eyes shining with determination. "I...I won't let you down, Meta Knight."

  
The knight patted the puffball's head one last time. "Good lad." Meta Knight saw Dark Mind teleport into view from across the battlefield. "There's Dark Mind. Let Galaxia guide your way."

  
_I'll protect you, my child._

  
Kirby pointed the glistening blade at the humanoid monster. "Don't worry, Meta Knight." The puffball looked back to him with a reassuring smile. "We'll all get to go home soon."

  
\---

  
Adeleine glanced down at the floor.

  
"Adeleine, please! If you know where Kirby is, just tell me!" Dedede yelled.

  
"I'm sorry, Dedede!" She said, her cheeks starting to turn red. "But I promised Kirby that I wouldn't tell you!"

  
_Promise...? So Kirby meant for this happen?_ The king clenched his fists. "Do you know where Meta Knight is?"

  
Adeleine stared at the king, her eyes practically boring in to him before she let out out a sigh. "Dedede, please, just Kirby a chance to explain. Why do you even want to fight Meta Knight so much anyways? He kept his word, didn't he? We don't even know if Meta Knight is in Dreamland!"

  
Dedede's beak clapped shut. _Why...do I care so much? I'm the king that Dreamland chose!_   Dedede frowned. _Am I really that insecure?_ The king sighed. "I'm sorry, Adeleine. You're right. I've taken this too far."

  
The girl gave him a faint smile. "I'm sorry too. But I made a promise to Kirby. I didn't want to betray his trust."

  
Dedede smiled. "As happy-go-lucky as Kirby is, I don't think that he would be that upset."

  
The mirror's image flashed once more, catching Dedede's attention. The mirror showed Kirby fighting a terrifyingly familiar one-eyed monster, with a glowing, golden sword in his hand.

  
Just as Dedede was hurriedly rushing over to the mirror, Adeleine stopped him. "OK, I still think that you might need an explanation for what exactly is going on."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight peered up to sky see Kirby combating Dark Mind with Galaxia. Dark Mind's energy blasts were becoming more rapid and Kirby was struggling to dodge them. _C'mon, Kirby, you've got this!_ Suddenly a bolt of dark energy was directed straight at Kirby, who attempted to deflect the shot with Galaxia, resulting in Kirby losing his grip and the sword falling back to the ground.

  
_No, no, no!_   Meta Knight leaped over to the sword, the injury on his back paining once more.

  
_Meta Knight, be careful!_   Galaxia urged.

  
_I don't have a choice! We have to get you back to Kirby._ The knight winced as he spread his wings once more, the mark on his back feeling as if it were on fire. Just as Meta Knight was about to attempt flying up to Kirby and Dark Mind himself, a golden-grey blur zipped into view.

  
"Hey! Give your sword!"

  
Meta Knight looked up to a see a grey Kirby perched upon a warp star, his nubby arm outstretched to the knight. _This must be Kirby's mirror-counterpart._ The knight clutched Galaxia closer to him. "How do I know if I can trust you?"

  
Meta Knight was interrupted by the sound of Kirby's cry echoing through the shadowy coliseum.

  
Shadow Kirby just growled. "Ugh! I don't have time for this!" The other Kirby simply swiped Galaxia out of Meta Knight's arms and zipped up to Kirby and Dark Mind with the warp star. From what Meta Knight could tell, Shadow Kirby chucked Galaxia back to Kirby.

  
"Hey, thanks, Shadow!" Kirby replied before slicing the blade into Dark Mind's spherical form once more.

  
\---

  
"So Meta Knight didn't kidnap Kirby?"

  
Adeleine shook her head. "Not at all. Meta Knight apparently got trapped in one of these mirrors, so Kirby decided to rescue him."

  
Dedede crossed his arms. "That's all well and good, but why would Kirby want to help Meta Knight? He's not exactly what I would call...friendly."

  
"Really?" The girl responded flatly. "Let me remind you that Kirby wanted to be your friend even back when you pilfering Dreamland's pantries for a hobby. Kirby wants to be friends with everybody!" Dedede admitted that Adeleine had a point. "Not to mention, that Kirby and Meta Knight seem to have a certain kinship."

  
The king's eyes widened. So she figured it out too? "You mean how Meta Knight is the same species as Kirby?"

  
"Yeah! How did you know?"

  
Dedede was about to tell her about how he broke into Kirby's house, but then decided that that might be a bad idea. "Uh...Call it my 'kingly hunch', I guess."

  
\---

  
_Meta Knight, over here!_

  
Meta Knight looked up to see five Kirbys jumping down to him, the original one with Galaxia in hand.

  
"C'mon, Meta Knight! We have to go!" Kirby said, handing Galaxia back to the knight, her warmth relieving some of the pain from the knight's injury.

  
"Go? What's happening?" Meta Knight glanced up again to see Dark Mind's fireball form, rushing towards them. The knight cursed under his breath before flapping his wings furiously, the pain from his injury being less intense then it was previously.

  
The five Kirbys each jumped on a warp star and flew out of the battlefield, with Meta Knight flying close behind.

  
_There should another portal nearby, I can feel it! You can use it to return to Dreamland!_ Galaxia hummed.

  
"Kirby! There should be a portal nearby!" Meta Knight said, relaying Galaxia's message to the others. "It should take us back to Dreamland!"

  
"Got it!" Kirby cheered as the group continued soaring through the night sky.

  
The fiery mass of dark matter kept pursuing the group, and the burn on Meta Knight's back began to pang once more. The Kirbys were having no issues escaping, as their warp stars were soaring at light speed while Meta Knight was quickly losing momentum.

  
"Meta Knight!" Kirby cried. "Grab on to my warp star!"

  
The knight furiously flapped his wings and gripped onto Kirby's warp star.

  
"The dimensional rift is right up ahead." Shadow Kirby announced. "It looks like we're losing Dark Mind too. I need to go check on my Meta Knight." The grey puffball waved his arm to the group. "I'll see you guys around." The puffball and his warpstar began to descend down from the sky and away from the rest of the group.

"Shadow!" Kirby cried as the other puffball flew out of sight while Meta Knight simply nodded.

  
_If Kirby's mirror-counterpart is anything like him, Shadow will be just fine._  "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine."  _Besides, I have my own matters to take care of._ "Kirby."

  
The puffball looked at him.

  
"I would like to thank you once more for coming to rescue me."

  
Kirby began to smile. "Aw! Meta Knight, you don't have to thank me! I was just doing the right thing!"

  
The knight scowled. "No, Kirby, you don't get it! I've been terrible to you in the past, to the point in which I've felt that I don't deserve to be helped." _Or to have friends, for that matter._ "I truly didn't deserve your kindness after everything I've done."

  
Kirby just looked at him with his sky-blue eyes.

  
"I-" Meta Knight began to stammer. "When I first declared war on Dreamland, It's because I felt...jealous. I was so jealous that you and King Dedede were able to live so carefreely and I got nothing from being diligent and secretive." The knight coughed. "I thought that both you and Dedede were incapable of protecting Dreamland, so I decided that I would become king, and do things my way. Even though that that was completely arrogant on my part, and I'm sorry."

  
The pink puffball titled his head.

  
_Drat. I keep forgetting I'm talking to a child._

  
"I don't think that you were entirely wrong." Kirby remarked. "But it's the way you went about it that caused the problem. You were a hero to Dreamland! I bet you could have easily just told everyone how you felt and that would have been just as effective!"

  
_I was...a hero?_

  
"That's not even to mention how things are now! Dedede's changed! He's much more approachable with these types of things! I bet that if you were just to ask him to unban you, he would!"

  
Meta Knight frowned. _Would he? I challenged his position as king. Would he really just let that go?_

  
"And if that doesn't work, well, I'll tell him to unban you on your behalf!" Kirby asserted.

  
The knight let out a quiet snort. "When did you and Dedede suddenly become best of friends?"

  
Kirby began to giggle. "Oh! Well, that's kind of a long story!"

  
\---

  
King Dedede, Adeleine, Sword Knight and Blade Knight were just standing around in the hall of mirrors, when three streaks of golden light flashed out of the largest mirror and flew into the sky.

  
"Dedede! Adeleine!"

  
Dedede and Adeleine looked over to another golden streak fly over them, with a familiar pink orb falling down towards them.

  
"Kirby!" The king stumbled as ran to the puffball but managed to catch him nonetheless.

  
Adeleine ran over to join them, her face absolutely beaming with joy. "Kirby! You're back!"

  
"Of course I am!" The puffball looked to Dedede. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was gone. But there was something really important that I had to do! I hope you understand."

  
The king's relieved chuckles quickly escalated into hysterical laughter as he gave a Kirby a giant hug. "You little pest! I'm just happy that you're alright! What were you thinking, running off like that!? You had all of us worried sick!"

  
"Well, the truth is-" Kirby's explanation was cut off when the group looked up to the air to see a masked, winged, spherical figure looking down at the group, a distinct golden blade being gripped his hand.

  
_Meta Knight._ Dedede glared at the figure with intense focus. _Finally showed your face, huh?_   Dedede couldn't tell for sure, but he almost detected a hint of a smile coming from behind Meta Knight's mask. The winged knight nodded to the crowd once before flying off into the clouds.

  
"That's our cue, Blade." Sword Knight whispered to his companion before the two ran off to follow their leader.

"Uh" Kirby began. "I think that you've probably already gathered what actually happened."

Dedede sighed. "You are so grounded."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and this is the end of the amazing mirror arc! The next arc will be the last major arc of the story (that's pretty crazy for me to think about!). I hope you all are looking forward to the final chapters of a King and Knight's Guide and other projects beyond.


	15. Step 11: Save the King's Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the beginning of the final major arc I had planned! I hope that you're looking forward to the conclusion of this project. I already have a bunch of other ideas for fics in the future, so I hope you're looking forward to those too.

  
"Great to have you back, sir!"

  
"It's great to be back." Meta Knight said to Axe Knight, who had just saluted him upon his entry into the Halberd Hangar. The hangar was just as Meta Knight remembered it, which was a pleasant surprise. While the Halberd was still stuck at the bottom of the ocean and the only ones maintaining the facility were only Meta Knight's most loyal of students and followers, the hangar was perfectly clean and already prepared for operation.

  
"Good news, sir!" Javelin Knight said, scuttling over to the caped knight. "The Halberd's repairs are ninety-nine percent complete! All that's left is to drain the water out of it, and then we should be able to bring it back to the hangar!"

  
"Excellent work! After that, we can start reparations on the watch tower!" Meta Knight announced and felt a sense of approval come from Galaxia.

  
"So, sir-" Axe Knight began. "Any idea of what we're going to do with the Halberd once it's rebuilt?"

  
"Not entirely." The masked knight replied. "But I do want to make one thing clear-" A shadow fell down over Meta Knight's mask. "We will not be attempting another seize of Castle Dedede. Is that understood?"

  
Axe Knight and Javelin Knight both furiously nodded.

  
"Good. For now, I would like to return to the watch tower and get an idea for what reparations need to be done."

  
"D-did you say something about the watch tower, Sir?" Meta Knight turned around to see Sailor Dee standing there, seeming very concerned about something.

  
"Yes, I did." The knight squinted at the waddle dee. "What about it?"

  
\---

  
Meta Knight followed the sailor up the trail to what had previously been Meta Knight's home, the golden tower that looked over the Fountain of Dreams.

  
"So when I heard from Sword Knight that you were rejoining us, I immediately went to the tower to try to get some last minute cleaning in, but when I opened the door-" Sailor Dee heaved the heavy doors open. "I saw this."

  
Meta Knight's mouth opened when he saw the base floor of the tower covered with open treasure chests and piles of gold; something that was definitely not there when he last saw the tower's interior. The walls of the tower had giant pieces of paper pinned to them displaying flowcharts and plans for some sort of scheme.

  
"I-I had no idea what to make of all of this, so I just left it be!" The sailor looked out at the mess. "I was hoping that you might know what all of this might be."

  
"I don't." Meta Knight replied before stepping up to study one of the plans. The plan displayed a map of some sort of cave and a drawing of some very important-looking treasure chest and had a signature at the edge of paper labeled 'The Squeaks'. "But that won't stop me from figuring that out."

  
\---

  
"That's when I found this treasure chest." Bandanna Dee said, gesturing to the box he placed in front of Dedede. The waddle dee had just returned from an expedition to the Great Cave and during the adventure, he found this brilliant pearly-white chest decorated with gold. "What do think is inside, Dedede?"

  
The king stroked his beak. "Who knows? Kirby said that when he went to the Great Cave, he found a lot of unique items, but not many of them had any practical use."

  
Bandanna Dee hummed. "I know. But I was thinking that maybe it's time we start collecting some ancient artifacts. It seems that whenever Dreamland is in trouble, we always end up needing to use the Star Rod or something like that."

  
"Of course, we can't actually use the Star Rod unless we want to the Fountain of Dreams to become corrupted again." Dedede remarked. "Besides! I'm already working on the jet-hammer Mark-2!" Dedede displayed his new project, a steel hammer painted with a vivid coat of blue. The head of the hammer was painted red, with a hand giving a piece sign on the flat end of the hammerhead. "My opinion is we shouldn't be relying on some magical macguffins! We should work on finding new ways to keep Popstar safe."

  
Bandanna Dee blinked. "That's...actually very wise of you! Maybe you have point."

  
"Still though, I'm just as curious about this treasure chest as you are. So let's just keep in the castle for safe keeping." Dedede said, which Bandanna Dee responded with a nod before exiting the throne room.

  
_I need to toughen up. I can't keep relying on Kirby to bail me out when a problem arises._ The king thought to himself. _I don't want another 'Dark Matter' situation on my hands._ Dedede felt his stomach lurch at just the mention of the creature's name.

  
\---

  
Dooloo was just going about her daily rounds when she heard crying off in the distance. _Oh no! What poor Dreamlander child has been forsaked on this fine morning? Fear not, child, I Dooloo, The Court-Mage of the King's Court will comfort you in your time of need!_ Dooloo ran towards the source of the sobbing where she found a familiar pink puffball crying his eyes out.

  
"Kirby? What's wrong?" Dooloo said approaching the upset child.

  
"S-Someone stole my strawberry shortcake!" The puffball whined.

  
Dooloo's eye twitched. _You know, it's easy to forget that despite the fact Kirby has slain multiple beings of pure evil, he's still a little kid._ The waddle doo awkwardly put her hands on his head in an attempt to comfort the child. "T-There, there, Kirby! Your hero and savior, Dooloo, will try to find the cake caper for you."

  
Kirby wiped the tears from his eyes. "No...I think I know who might've stolen my cake."

  
"You do? Will why don't you tell me? I'll give them a royal butt-kicking on your behalf."

  
"I think it was Dedede." Kirby interjected.

  
"WHAT!?" The waddle doo screeched. "Why would you possibly think it would be Dedede?"

  
Kirby cleared his throat. "W-well, Dedede used to steal food all the time, so I figured-"

  
Dooloo almost felt like smacking Kirby, but she didn't. Dooloo took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. "But it's been ages since Dedede has done something that stupid! Besides, you and him are friends now! I don't think Dedede would steal your food even if he wanted to!" _And trust me, knowing the glutton, he probably does._

  
Kirby frowned. "I-I'm still going to Castle Dedede. I'm going to file a royal complaint!" The puffball jumped up and scampered off.

  
The waddle doo blinked. _Note to self: Never interfere with Kirby's ability to eat, unless you want to invoke the wrath of a walking black hole._  
_-_ \--

  
"Breaking News! Kirby has once again been spotted on a rampage, heading towards Castle Dedede! Witness Colonel Dooloo Waddle Doo herself has stated that Kirby has accused King Dedede of stealing of his strawberry shortcake. Has the truce between the self-proclaimed King of Dreamland and the Hero of Popstar finally come to an end? More news to come as more details come out. This has been Waddle-D-TV!"

  
Bandanna Dee clicked the power button on the TV remote, turning the TV monitor in Castle Dedede off. "Well. What do you make of this?"

  
Dedede scoffed. "I didn't steal anything. Besides, Kirby and I friends! We're not going to go back to being worst enemies over a slice of cake!"

  
"That's great and all, Dedede-" The waddle dee walked to one of the open windows in the castle and peered through his spyglass. "But it looks like Kirby's already beaten up Whispy Woods. Again."

  
Dedede grumbled. "You know, for a kid with a heart of gold, you'd seriously think that he could cut the old tree some slack!"

  
"We seek audience with the king."

  
Dedede turned around to see Sword Knight and Blade Knight.

  
"What do you two want?" The king sneered. "I thought that you're two's loyalty lied with Meta Knight before me." _I certainly think that considering you two were with him when he made his declaration of war!_

  
Sword Knight nodded. "True. But we have an urgent message for you."

  
"Alright then, let's hear it."

  
Sword Knight cleared his throat. "Apparently there's a band of thieves at large right now in Dreamland called the Squeaks." Dedede let out a small laugh which Sword Knight ignored. "Their goal is too collect the ancient artifacts scattered across Dreamland. Meta Knight believes that they would even be willing to steal artifacts such as the Star Rod."

  
Dedede choked on his laughter. "T-the Star Rod? But if the Star Rod gets stolen-"

  
"Dreamland could very well be consumed by darkness again." Sword Knight continued.

  
Bandanna Dee raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any idea why the Squeaks would want these ancient artifacts?"

  
Sword Knight shrugged. "No clue. Meta Knight says that the thieves are after anything of 'value', but even he's not sure what that could mean."

  
Dedede hummed. "Do you think they might try to come here?"

  
"Not sure. I don't think there's any magic artifacts being held at the Castle. Their current target is a treasure supposedly being held in the Great Cave."

  
"T-the Great Cave?" Bandanna Dee shuddered.

  
Sword Knight nodded. "Yeah. Because the Great Cave is pretty close to the castle, so we thought that you all might want to know; just in case the Squeaks try any funny business."

  
_With a name like the Squeaks, I can't imagine them doing anything that is not funny._ Dedede snickered to himself.

  
"I see." Bandanna replied before nodding to the two knights. "Thank you all for letting us know."

  
Sword Knight chuckled. "Thank you for not kicking Meta Knight out yet. We really appreciate it." Sword Knight nodded to their companion. "Well, C'mon, Blade. Let's head back." The two knights then strode out of the castle.

  
"I-" Bandanna Dee stammered. "I think it's time we had a look at that treasure chest."

  
"Yeah, I agree." The king replied. "But I kinda want to get the Kirby matter sorted out first."

  
Bandanna titled his head. "Why?"

  
Dedede scratched the back of his head. "I don't like that Kirby thinks that I'm going back to thieving. We were finally becoming really good friends! I really don't want us to go back to hating each other, y'know?"

  
"I understand." The waddle dee replied. "I'll tell you what. I'm going to go out and see where Kirby is now while you have a look at what's in the treasure chest."

  
"Alright. Sounds like a plan."

  
Bandee saluted before heading out of the castle.

  
_Now where did BD put that treasure chest...?_ Dedede walked his way back to the throne room. Adeleine had recently painted a new portrait of Dedede that was placed right above his throne; people could accuse him of being a narcissist all they want, he was going to show off Adeleine's new work as much he wants. _Wait. That's right. The throne!_ Dedede ran over to the throne and lifted up a panel in the flooring next to it. Within the hidden compartment was the large, white chest that Bandanna found in the Great Cave. The king heaved as he slammed the heavy chest onto the floor. Alright. _Let's see what you're hiding._ Dedede reached over and gripped the lid of the chest, preparing to lift it open. _I wonder what is even in this old thing. Maybe this has been one wild goose chase...Can you imagine if Kirby's cake is somehow in the chest?_ Dedede chuckled to himself.

  
He heard a clank sound as he lifted the chest open. The king was pretty excited up to that point, but that excitement was quickly replaced with fear as a black mist poured out of the chest, clinging to Dedede's gloves. _Wait, what-_ A piercing red eye blinked open from within the chest. _Dark Matter!?_ Dedede toppled backwards as the shadowy creature leaped out of the chest; the dark mist flooding through the throne room. _No no no no no no!_ Dedede pulled a single-button remote out of his robe and mashed it. The king outstretched his hand, hoping for his jet-hammer to fly into his hand, but the creature was already zipping it's way over to the unnamed king.

  
"Your Majesty, Get Back!"

  
Dedede opened his eyes to see a short figure wearing a blue cape, metal shoulder pads and holding a glistening golden blade with several pointed prongs protruding through it. "Meta Knight!?"

  
The knight looked back at him and scoffed. "Do I even want to know what you're doing with a Dark Matter in your castle?" The knight slashed his golden blade once more, repelling some of the dark mist.

  
As Meta Knight leapt forward into the darkness, Dedede saw a faint, blue light glowing from within the darkness. _About time!_ Dedede grabbed the jet-hammer as it almost flew past him. Unfortunately, the pure velocity of the blunt metal object sent the king crashing into his throne.

  
Meta Knight let out a hearty laugh. "Are you serious, my liege? A weapon as clumsy of that will never do you any good!" The knight gracefully somersaulted through the air, his blade forcing the dark creature back with a shrill hiss. "A weapon such as mine is much more graceful!"

  
"Since when did I become 'your liege'?" Dedede spun the heavy jet-hammer around, practically ripping through the dark mist. "Last time I checked, you were trying to overthrow me!"

  
"Yes, well-" Meta Knight slashed at a cloud of darkness that was attempting to surround him. "What I was doing was for the good of Dreamland; just as what I'm trying to do now." The knight paused as he saw a red object floating within the mist. "There! I found it's eye!"

  
"Yeah, I see it!" Dedede slammed the base of the hammer to the ground and clicked one of the buttons on it's handle; causing two metal doors on the hammer's head to part aside, revealing several small missile launchers. "You might want to duck!"

  
Meta Knight quickly leaped out of the way as several small rockets blasted into the creature's eye. The black mist began to subside and swirled around the creature, forming it's star shaped body.

  
Meta Knight turned to Dedede as he attempted the corner the creature. "Quickly! The treasure chest!"

  
The king quickly kicked open the chest onto it's side as Meta Knight herded the creature into the chest. Dedede quickly flipped the chest back upright and the king and the knight both slammed the chest shut with the shadowy creature inside.

  
"T-there." Meta Knight caught his breath. "Now we just to keep that thing shut."

  
"What are you doing here?" Dedede asked. "You're still technically banned, you know?"

  
The knight glared at him. "Well, if you really want to know, I was trying to hunt down the Squeaks when I heard that one of your soldiers found a certain treasure down in the Great Cave. After that, I did a bit of research and I learned that that treasure chest housed a 'Dark Nebula'."

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "What's a 'Dark Nebula'?"

  
"It's essentially a baby Dark Matter." Meta Knight continued. "Supposedly, it was sealed away in ancient times. Personally, I would have shipped the thing off of the planet; it would have certainly saved us a lot of trouble."

  
"Any idea why the Squeaks would possibly want something like this?"

  
The knight sighed. "Personally, I think that the Squeaks have been misinformed. There was once a certain subset of people that would...'praise' Dark Matter. They believed that the creatures could be a source of magical power and the like-" Meta Knight glanced at the king. "But I'm certain that both you and I know the true nature of Dark Matter by now."

  
"You-" _Meta Knight seems to know a lot about Dark Matter. Is there some secret history here that I'm not getting?_ Just as Dedede was about question the knight further about this, the knight suddenly sprouted his wings as if he was surprised by something.

  
"Someone approaches!" The knight quickly flew up to the ceiling of the throne room as Dedede heard the sound of some familiar footsteps approach him.

  
"Dedede! Why did you steal my cake?" Kirby's voice whined.

  
_He still seriously thinks that I did it!?_ Dedede sighed. _Why do I get the feeling I'm in for a hard time?_

  
\---

  
Meta Knight watched from the ceiling as Kirby soundly defeated Kind Dedede once again. To be fair, Dedede clearly didn't want to fight Kirby, so the fight was one-sided in more ways than one.

  
"For the last time! I don't know anything about you're cake!" The king yelled back to the pink puffball.

  
"Liar!" Kirby yelled back.

  
_This is completely childish._ Meta Knight thought. _And yet I can't look away._

  
_Do you think maybe it's time that you intervene?_ Galaxia said with a certain snark to her tone.

  
Meta Knight looked on as Kirby kicked Dedede, who was shielding himself with his arms as he huddled on the floor. _No. Frankly, I'm enjoying this._

  
Kirby was now walking over to the white chest. "Hey! Is this where you're keeping my cake!?"

  
Meta Knight was chuckling to himself before Kirby approached the chest, but now felt like his eyes were about pop out of his head. _Ay, Dios Mio! Kirby NO!_

  
"Kirby, NO!" Dedede echoed his thoughts as the king rushed over and shielded the chest. "Don't you even THINK about touching this chest!"

  
"Why? Because you're hiding my cake in it?"

  
"For the absolute, last time! I DID NOT-" Dedede and Kirby's argument was interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from a strange, cloaked rat-folk who had just entered the room.

  
"My, my! What's with all the hostility?" The cloaked figure landed on Dedede's throne a tapped a golden baton into his hand, which seemed to have magically caused the white treasure chest into appearing onto the throne next to him. "What's the point in arguing about something that's not even yours?" The rat-folk said slyly.

  
_Drat! It must be one of the Squeaks!_ Meta Knight was about to jump down from his hiding spot when Dedede pointed his regular wooden hammer at the intruder.

 

"Hey! Stay way from that! You don't know what's actually in that chest!"

 

"Well, I can't imagine that it's a slice of cake like your little pink friend is claiming." The cloaked figure retorted, prompting Kirby to puff up his cheeks in anger. "Regardless-" The rat-folk hoisted the chest onto his back. "This chest belongs to the Squeaks now. Stick to stealing from the farmer's market, King Dedede!" The thief replied before dashing out of the throne room with remarkable speed.

  
"Oh, no you don't, you varmin!" Dedede picked up Kirby into one of hands. "Alright, Kirbs, go get 'em!" Dedede suddenly rolled Kirby like a bowling out of the throne room after the thief.

 

\---

  
Meta Knight landed on top of Dedede's throne as the king dropped his wooden hammer and picked up his jet-hammer. "Well, that went poorly." Meta Knight deadpanned.

  
"Oh no! You don't say!" Dedede replied sarcastically as he adjusted some of the mechanisms on his metal mallet.

  
"So what's the plan now?" The knight asked.

  
Dedede gave his hammer a couple of practice swings. "Well, I'm probably going to get Karbula surveying the castle to try and catch the Squeaks before they get away."

  
"We still don't know all of their identities." Meta Knight interjected. "I'll try to get a data base going at the hangar."

  
"Are-" The king began to laugh. "Are you joking with me right now?" Dedede walked over to the knight. "Since when did I give you the idea that we were working together?"

  
"Since...since we were working together to fight Dark Nebula a couple of minutes ago?" Meta Knight answered, suddenly feeling very unsure of himself. "I'm sorry, do you not want my assistance?"

  
"I don't trust you, Meta Knight." Dedede replied sternly. "Even if you're not after my throne anymore, I still think that you're an extremist."

  
Meta Knight scowled. "Your Majesty, I know that I've said other wise in the past, but I'm willing to work with you if it means protecting Dreamland. I'll follow your every order and your every rule; but I would like it if you were to listen to my suggestions."

  
"I don't believe you."

  
"I urge you to try and recall a time in the past when I actually lied to you. Even when I was trying to become king, I was always being frank with you."

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "Why are you being so insistent on this? You and I have never gotten along before; so why now?"

  
The knight averted his piercing gaze and sighed. "It's because you and I have something in common."

  
The king huffed. "And what could that possibly be?"

  
"We're both friends with Kirby."

  
Dedede's widened. _That's...true._ The king sighed. _How many times has Kirby begged to me unban Meta Knight now?_ Dedede knew that he had already last count.

  
"We both want to protect Dreamland, even if that means making some sacrifices." The knight raised on his white gloves out to Dedede. "You're Dreamland's King and I'm the Strongest Warrior in the Galaxy. If anyone should be capable to protecting this land, it should be us. If Kirby thinks that we can work together, shouldn't we at least try?"

  
Dedede sighed. _Why does someone so untrustworthy have to be so good at winning arguments?_ The king shook Meta Knight's hand. "Alright. Just try not to stab in me in the back."

  
The knight bowed. "Galaxia will only ever strike the forces of evil, my liege."

  
The two were interrupted by the sound of the doors opening, revealing a crowed of disheveled and distressed waddle dees, being led by Bandanna Dee. "Uh-" Bandanna Dee started. "I sure hope that I'm not being a bother, but we kinda have a rat infestation."

 

 

 

 


	16. Step 12: Work as a Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part two of the squeak squad arc. mostly character interaction with little plot

  
"Here's what we've got so far." Javelin pulled up a file on their computer back at the hangar. The file displayed profiles of four mouse-folk that made up the band of thieves, the aptly named Squeaks, who have just stolen a treasure chest containing Dark Nebula.

Meta Knight pointed at the rat-folk wearing the red top-hat. "That's the person who broke into the castle. He appears to be a magician of sorts."

  
Javelin hummed. "Yep. Apparently his name is Daroach. He used to be a show magician before he turned to a life of treasure hunting-"

  
"And thievery." Meta Knight added. "What about his accomplices?"

  
Javelin scrolled down the page. "The Squeaks themselves are typically followed by a bunch of squeakers, but Daroach has three main partners." Javelin pointed a nub at the picture of the heavy-set rat-folk wearing the eye-patch. "This is Storo. He's the muscle of the group and seems to be Daroach's most loyal accomplice. " Javelin then pointed to the rat-folk wearing a pair of strange spectacles. "This is Doc. He's a pretty eccentric guy. Apparently, his hobby is fiddling with alien technology."

  
"That would explain the flying saucer." Meta Knight remarked.

  
"Yeah, he's a real wackadoodle! At least your chief technician isn't completely off their rockers, right, Sir?!" Javelin then broke into hysterical laughter.

  
Meta Knight squinted. _Right..._

  
Javelin stopped laughing and let out a nasally cough. "Uh, anyways-" Javelin pointed to the profile of the rat-folk with the triangle shades. "Finally, we have Spinni. She's super agile and fast; she's typically the one in charge of the Squeak's smaller heists. She's the one Trident saw at the Prism Plains."

  
"So she's following Kirby?"

  
"More like Kirby's following her." Javelin corrected. "The Squeaks seem to be one step ahead of Kirby, no matter what."

  
Meta Knight stroked his chin(?) "To be fair, I really don't want Kirby to get a hand of the treasure either." The knight mused.

  
Javelin's visor replicated the raising of an eyebrow. "Doesn't Kirby still think that his missing cake in the chest?"

  
Meta Knight let out an extra exasperated sigh. "Yes. He has no idea that a Dark Nebula is actually what the Squeaks the stole."

  
"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Javelin mused.

  
"You have no idea."

  
\---  
Dedede adjusted his robe as the roaring mountain wind swirled around the group. The search party gathered at the Nature's Notch that was hunting after the Squeaks was made up of the king, Bandanna Dee, Dooloo, Sword Knight and Blade Knight.

  
"Any sight of them?" The king called, his voice being muffled by the howling wind.

  
Blade Knight, who was ahead of the group shook their head.

  
"Blade says that there's no sight of the Squeaks or Kirby, sir!" Sword Knight yelled back.

  
"Here, let me take a look." Bandanna Dee said, taking a spyglass out of his backpack, and then proceeding to scan the area below. "Yep! I can confirm I don't see anything!"

  
"Yeah, we already told that." Sword Knight grumbled under his breath.

  
Dooloo squinted at the knights. "I'm sorry. What was that?"

  
"Me and Blade already told you that the Squeaks are no where to be found!" Sword Knight retorted. "What's the point of us coming along if you can't trust our intel without getting a confirmation check?"

  
Dooloo was about to stomp over to the knight before Bandanna Dee grabbed her arm. "Dooloo! Calm down!"

 

"The deliverer of justice will not 'calm down'!" The waddle doo screeched.

  
Dedede noticed a pebble drop down in front in him. _At this rate, Dooloo's screaming might just cause a landslide..._ The king grumbled.

  
At this point, Dooloo had torn her arm from her waddle dee companion and had marched up to Sword Knight. "If you must know-" She began with a curtness to her tone. "I don't exactly trust you. After all, you were helping Meta Knight with his invasion just a year ago!"

  
Sword Knight seemed to twitch a little. "Yeah, but that was a year ago; and your king and Meta Knight have agreed to work together in order to stop the Squeaks-"

  
The waddle doo gasped. "WhaaaAAAAAAAT?" She glared at King Dedede. "Is this true!? Why haven't I been briefed on this!?"

  
Dedede watched as a slightly larger rock tumbled down the mountain. _Because I knew that you would overreact this way_.

  
"Dooloo!" Bandanna Dee pulled the mage back. "Keep it down! At this point, you might cause a rock slide!"

  
The waddle doo's breathing steadied and she sighed. "My...My apologies. You're right. I'll keep my volume down."

  
"Thank you."

  
The group continued to walk down the mountain trail, unaware of the snickering figure that was following them from behind the corner.

  
_I'm actually impressed._ Dedede thought. _Dooloo is actually managing to keep her cool. Maybe that break did her some good. I should probably give her a vacation some time soon-_ Time seemed to slow as Dedede watched a decently-sized rock fall from above and eventually landing right on Dooloo's head. _NO!_

  
"WHO THREW THAT!?" Dooloo's incredibly loud and shrill voice echoed through the mountains.

  
As expected, the waddle doo's roar was followed by a large rumbling sound coming from the top of the mountain which was beginning to slowly increase in volume. Dedede heard a loud, high-pitched snicker come from behind him, and swung his head to find the source of the laughter. What was standing there was an orange mouse-folk wearing a pair of admittedly stylish red shades.

  
"Oopsie!" The mouse-folk responded sarcastically. "I didn't mean to trip on that rock over there!"

  
Bandanna pointed his spear at the stranger. "You! You must a Squeak!"

  
"And you all must the dullest hunks of the rock in the entire Nature Notch!" She replied cheekily. "I would love to say and chat with you squares, but I have an epic heist to get back to! Smell you later, losers!" The mouse-folk gave the group a smug peace-sign before sliding down the mountain side.

  
"Yeah, well - This won't be the last you've smelled of Dooloo-" Dooloo's comeback was quickly cut off as the group was carried down the mountain by the oncoming rock slide.

  
\---

  
"My King! It is time for you awaken!" Dooloo's voice sounded.

  
"I am awake!" Dedede proclaimed as he got back on his feet before brushing the dust off of his robe. "I doubt that anyone could sleep through your talking!"

  
"That, I agree with, my liege." Sword Knight said flatly.

  
It had appeared that the group had tumbled down the mountain and had landed in the jungle below, the Jam Jungle to be specific.

  
Dooloo stomped her foot in anger. "How dare you address him as your 'liege'! You told us that the Squeaks were no where to be found, only for me to get assaulted by one of them a couple of minutes later!"

  
Sword Knight picked up his sword from the ground. "I'm sorry; are we really just going to ignore the fact that YOU caused us to get hit by a rock slide!?" The knight yelled back.

  
"I wouldn't have screamed had you had seen enemy before she threw a rock at me!" The waddle doo screamed back.

  
"You were the one that told us to keep our eyes down the mountain! You said nothing about watching your back!" Blade Knight poked Sword Knight on the back and signed something to their companion. Sword turned back to Dooloo. "Not to mention we were the ones leading the pack! You guys should have been checking to make sure that no one was following us!"

  
"Why, I ought to-"

  
Bandanna Dee grabbed Dooloo as she began to aim her beam wand at the knights. "Dooloo! Control your temper!"

  
"THE TEMPER OF JUSTICE WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED!"

  
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The group looked up above them to see Meta Knight flapping down from the jungle canopy. The winged knight landed next to Sword Knight and placed a glove on his back. "Sword Knight, This argument is pointless. The Squeaks were the ones that caused the rock slide. You and Dooloo were just unfortunately used as tools to complete that task; nothing more."

  
"Meta Knight's right." Dedede sighed. "Dooloo, can you please take a chill pill for one second! Whether you like it or not, the Meta-Knights are helping us! I'm sure that we've all gotten along at some point; so can we at least try to pretend that we have some sort of respect for each other? Please?" The king pleaded.

  
Dooloo and Sword Knight carefully stepped back, still glaring each other.

  
"We all have the same mission here." Meta Knight urged. "Stop the Squeaks. Reclaim the Dark Nebula." The caped knight pointed his golden blade down the jungle trail. "Now, since I apparently can't leave you all alone without you lot causing a rock slide, I'll join you on your search for now. Let's continue our pursuit of the enemy, shall we?"

  
Dedede quickly ran up next to the lead knight. "Thanks for getting the goon squad's attention. Dooloo has a hard time hearing things over the sound of her own voice."

  
The masked knight gave the king a glance. "Something you two have in common?"

  
Dedede's face scrunched up. "You and your snide remarks aren't really making this team-up enjoyable."

  
"Oh, tis a shame then." Meta Knight replied sarcastically. "I was almost hoping you would have my ban officially revoked as a reward for my assistance."

  
"The only thing that is getting officially revoked here is your attitude."

  
"Says the king with the temper so bad that he picked a fight with a child!"

  
"You fought that child too!"

  
The king and knight continuously argued as the group ventured further down the trail.

  
Sword Knight turned to Dooloo. "Were we supposed to learn something from them?" He said gesturing to Dedede and Meta Knight.

  
"Nope." Dooloo replied.

  
\---

  
Dedede, Bandanna, Dooloo, Meta Knight, Sword Knight and Blade had taken a break near the edge of the jungle and had now gathered by campfire.  
Meta Knight pointed his blade to pile of wood. "Galaxia, cast your flame."

  
_As you wish._ An audible 'fwoosh' sound was made as the sword was magically caught ablaze, her fire gently creeping onto the pile of wood.

  
Dooloo scoffed. "I could easily do that."

  
"Yes, I'm sure that you could, Colonel." Meta Knight muttered.

  
The knight walked over to Sword Knight and Blade Knight and took a seat, draping his cloak over himself. Bandanna Dee skewered several pieces of fruit on his spear and began to cook them over the fire while Dedede fiddled with his hammer.

  
"I have to ask-" The king began, looking at Meta Knight. "Why do you talk to your sword?"

  
The caped knight turned his head. _That's none of your concern_.

  
_Meta Knight._ Galaxia chimed in. _I understand why you don't want to tell them the whole truth, but can you at least try to form a conversation? You're still speaking with a king, you know?_

  
The knight sighed. "Talking to Galaxia...gives me comfort. That's all I'll say." Meta Knight admitted.

  
Bandanna handed the king a piece of fruit which Dedede bit into. "The sword has a name?" The king said between chews.

  
Meta Knight growled quietly.

  
_Awww...Are you really that embarrassed to mention me in front of your friends?_   Galaxia said sarcastically.

  
The knight sighed once more. "Yes." Meta Knight held out the sword. "Her...It's name is Galaxia."

  
Bandanna Dee's eyes widened. "Wow! I...I've never had a chance to look at your sword up close! Where'd you find it?"

  
Meta Knight gulped. _That question leads to way too many details about my past for me to be comfortable to share it with this many people._ "I -- Galaxia is one of a kind." The knight stammered. "There's no other sword like it."

  
The waddle dee quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

  
The knight felt a bead of sweat go down his face. "Aye. There's no other sword like Galaxia. End of story."

  
Silence fell over the party for several minutes.

  
_That went over well._ Meta Knight shuffled his cape over himself, suddenly feeling very embarrassed and self-conscious.

  
"I wonder if Kirby has caught up to the Squeaks yet." Dedede said suddenly.

  
Meta Knight breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank you, your Majesty, for changing the subject._ "Knowing Kirby, he's probably right on their tails."

  
The king frowned. "Guess that means that we're the stragglers, then?"

  
"Not necessarily." The knight replied. "I still have measures put in place if the Squeaks outrun us too far." _I still haven't told Dedede about the Halberd's reparations._ The knight gave the king a quick glance. _And to be fair, I shouldn't; unless I want him to accuse me of beginning another invasion._ Meta Knight paused as he heard a ring tone go off in his mask. "I'm to going to go take a walk." The knight announced before getting up and walking back into the jungle brush.

  
The knight clicked the small button on the side of his mask. "Javelin Knight, what's the update?"

  
"I picked up on a large mechanical vehicle somewhere near your party!" The knight's voice buzzed. "My intel says that Kirby and the Squeaks have already left the area, but the machine belonged to the Squeaks, so it's likely hostile!"

  
Meta Knight carefully scanned the surrounding area, even though the jungle was barely visible in the night. "I don't see anything. Can you point me in the direction of the machine?"

  
"I'm running another radar scan right now."

  
The knight carefully tiptoed through the brush, struggling to see through the dark. Meta Knight reached his hand behind his cape to reach for Galaxia, but the sword was not there.

  
_Meta Knight._ Her voice said. _You left at me at the campfire._ She said dryly.

  
The knight gasped as he felt his boot hit something large and metal. _Oh no._ Suddenly, a large, metal, green machine in front of him lit up, revealing the vehicle's large, metal, digging claws.

  
"SIR!" Javelin's voice buzzed through the knight's mask. "That's Yadogaine! One of Doc's latest inventions!"

  
The machine began to slowly raise one of it's large claws, it's engine beginning to roar throughout the nearby jungle.

  
"You should probably get out of the way." Javelin said.

  
Meta Knight quickly unfolded his wings and attempted to fly away, before he flew straight into the heavy branches above.

  
\---

  
"Sir Meta Knight?" Bandanna cried, leading the party to the source of the loud rumbling sound. The waddle dee gasped and skidded to a stop as he saw the large machine digging it's way towards the party. "Uh-oh." The waddle dee launched himself on top of the machine, his spear pointed to strike one of the joints connected to the robot's large claws.

  
Dooloo, Sword Knight and Blade Knight ran over to help the waddle dee fight the machine while Dedede powered up his jet-hammer. "Hey, Meta Knight! Where are you?"

  
The knight awkwardly glided down to the king, one of wings having been bent slightly. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

  
"Looking for this?" The king handed Meta Knight Galaxia. "I get the feeling that you're going to need it."

  
Meta Knight looked up to the king, his eyes wide with disbelief. "I - Wait, it didn't burn you?" The knight said taking the sword.

  
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "Burn me?"

  
"Galaxia tends to burn those she deems 'unworthy'. I didn't think that you'd be able to pick her up, is all."

  
The king scoffed. "Yeah, well I guess I'm more 'worthy' than you thought!" He said jokingly.

  
Meta Knight let out a hesitant laugh. "I...I suppose so."

  
"Hey, look out!" Just as one of the robot's giant claws was about to swing into Dedede and Meta Knight, the king jetted his hammer into it, completely squashing it to the ground. "And you said my hammer was impossible to use!" The king boasted with a goofy grin on his beak.

  
Meta Knight laughed. "It's not the most subtle of weapons, but sometimes a blunt weapon can be the most effective."

  
\---

  
The group's journey had taken them past the Jam Jungle and the Vocal Volcano to the Ice Island, a wintry island to the north of the Ice Cream Islands. The constant snowfall that fell on the island glimmered and sparkled as the early morning sun reflected through each individual snow flake. Bandanna and Dooloo were huddled under their king's fluffy red robe while Meta Knight, Sword Knight and Blade Knight stoically lead the team deeper into the cold.

  
"Sir." Sword Knight turned to his leader. "We haven't seen the Squeaks or Kirby in the while. Are you sure we haven't lost them?"

  
Meta Knight walked over to a nearby snow bank and looked down at a strange, spherical dent made in the snow. "This snow angel looks like it was made by Kirby, wouldn't you say?"

  
"Uh-" Sword Knight began. "Nevermind, Sir."

  
Meta Knight went back to leading the group, while Dooloo scanned the nearby area with her eye. "I wonder what the chances are of the Squeaks being nearby...?" She said, her eye darting around the landscape. "I don't plan on them making a fool of me this time..."

  
"Relax, Dooloo." Dedede said flatly. "Everything's white out here. In case you haven't noticed, the Squeaks have a pretty outlandish fashion sense. It's going to be very hard to miss them all the way out here."

  
"I'll still keep my eye open..." Dooloo said grimly.

  
Meta Knight rolled his eyes. "Your king has a point, however, that doesn't mean we can get too lax. Right now, we should focus on making up lost ground and catching up to the Squeaks." The knight raised his head skyward. "Kirby's doing a good job at keeping the Squeaks occupied." Meta Knight remarked.

  
"How can you tell that?" Dedede inquired.

  
The knight glanced back to the penguin-folk. "Dark Nebula hasn't been released yet. The Squeaks have probably been so distracted that they haven't had a chance to open the chest."

  
"You think that Kirby still thinks that the chest contains his missing cake?"

  
The knight let out a tired sigh. "Unfortunately, Kirby is still very...naive. While I do believe that he's smarter then he appears, I recognize that that just may be because he excels in certain areas more than others.

  
The king hummed. "You seem to have a lot of respect for the puffball nowadays."

  
"Well, he did save my life after all." The knight replied. "It's only natural that I speak highly of him." _Not to mention our shared heritage..._

  
The groups attention was abruptly shifted to the large explosion sound that had just went off in the distance.

  
"That might have been the Squeaks!" The lead knight exclaimed. "Quickly, let us make haste!" The group quickly rushed ahead to find the source of the disturbance.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i plan on the next chapter being the last part of the squeak squad arc, but we'll see how that works out


	17. Step 13: Make Amends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the final chapter of the squeak squad arc! there's at least one more chapter in the fic as a whole, but it's almost done! i'm really excited to move on to next projects and ideas and i hope you're looking forward to them as well!

  
"Sorry, my little pink friend, but this chest belongs to me!"

  
The party skidded to a stop when the saw Kirby combating a grey rat-folk dressed in a red top hat and matching red cape in front of snowy cliff side. Dedede, Bandee, Dooloo, Meta Knight, Sword Knight and Blade Knight quickly hid behind a large rock, carefully peeking around to watch the fight.

  
"There's the chest!" Dedede remarked upon spotting the white chest slightly protruding out of a nearby snow bank.

  
"Yeah, but we'll have to get around Daroach to get it." Sword Knight replied.

  
The group quickly ducked their heads back behind the rock as Daroach cast a flurry of ice magic around the arena.Kirby, however, was seemingly just fine as he quickly ice skated his way out of the direction of Daroach's attacks.

  
"That's my boy!" The king cheered in a whisper. "Don't worry, Kirby will probably mop the floor with this mouse anytime!"

  
Meta Knight squinted his gold-silver eyes while Bandanna Dee's eyes darted around the arena. "Look!" The soldier pointed his spear at the cliff side behind Kirby and Daroach. "If one of us can climb over to that cliff, we'll be able to grab the Dark Nebula and escape."

  
"Good eye, mate!" Sword Knight said. "But we'll still need to get over to the cliff."

  
Dooloo raised her arm. "We could always try to crawl over to the cliff; we'll have to try to avoid catching Daroach's attention though."

  
Before the conversation could continue any further, Meta Knight suddenly unfurled his wings and swiftly glided over to the chest.

  
"META KNIGHT!" Dedede roared. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?"

  
Both Kirby and Daroach, he was now lying on the ground after being beat by Kirby both jumped as Meta Knight flew by and grabbed the chest.

  
"Meta Knight?" Kirby asked.

  
"H-Hey! That's mine!" Daroach growled.

  
Meta Knight ignored all of them as he quickly jumped up the mountain, the chest in hand.

  
\---

  
"Sir!" Sword's voice sounded in Meta Knight's mask. "What were you thinking!? The king is furious and Daroach got away!"

  
"Relax, Sword Knight." The knight replied calmly. "We met our main objective; I just need to fix a couple of loose ends. I'll sort things out with King Dedede later. For now just-"

  
Sword's voice com began to static erratically. "S-SIR! K-King Dedede d-demands t-t-that you get b-back here immediately-y-y! H-he - h-hey!"

  
"Meta Knight!" The king's voice boomed through the voice com. "WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

  
"Your Majesty, I can-"

  
"Where are you taking the Dark Nebula?" The king's voice growled with intense hostility to a level that Meta Knight had never heard in his voice before.

  
_Drat. I'm going to have to tell him about the Halberd._ Meta Knight took a deep breath. "Your Majesty, I beg of you, just give three minutes to explain. That's all I ask."

  
"What answer to that question could you possibly have that requires three minutes!?"

  
One that could lead you to believe that I'm after your throne again. The knight cleared his throat. "I'm going to remove the Nebula from Planet Popstar."

  
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

  
"I..." The knight gulped. "I have access to a vessel that will allow me to transport the Dark Nebula off of the planet."

  
"...What vessel?..." Dedede's voice said with suspicion.

  
Suddenly, Sword Knight's voice spoke up again. "H-He means the Flying Halberd, your Majesty."

  
"WHAT!?"

  
"Dedede, please listen to me. I'm not planning on launching another invasion-" Meta Knight tried to explain.

  
"Do you really expect me to believe you!?"

  
The knight felt his blood boil. _I was finally gaining some semblance of trust again, I'm not losing it!_ "Yes! I learned my lesson!"

  
"How so!?"

  
"Oh, I'm not sure...Perhaps the time your hammer literally jetted me across the ocean!? How about the entire I spent off the planet with the only thing to keep me company being my sword!? What about that time I got trapped in a magic mirror and had to be save by a child!?" The knight exclaimed. "I have been humbled and I've realized that I'm not as strong as I thought I was! I realized that violence is not always the solution! And I have realized that I value Dreamland for all of its parts and I am willing to defend it with all I can offer!" Meta Knight paused his speech to catch his breath before beginning once more. "All I ask is that you trust me; I promise you that it will not be misplaced and that I will not betray you."

  
An unbearable long pause followed the knight's monologue before the communicator buzzed one more.

  
"If you try anything-" Meta Knight heard the distinct roar of a jet-hammer. "I won't hold back."

  
The knight took a deep breath. "I understand, Sire." The voice com shut down.

  
Meta Knight grabbed the chest containing the Dark Nebula and looked around the tropical islands where he landed. The knight carefully raised his glove and turned another one of the communicators on.

  
"Javelin Knight."

  
"I just heard your conversation with the king." Javelin replied. "All I have to say is 'ouch'."

  
Meta Knight sighed. "Well, at least you probably know what I'm about to ask for."

  
"The Halberd is waiting for you at the bottom of the ocean. I'll give you the coordinates."

  
"Thank you, Javelin." The knight slowly frowned. _They...do realize that I don't actually have a device on me that will actually allow me to follow those coordinates, right?_ Meta Knight face-palmed. _Glad to know that in what may be my final hour, that I have everything I need to actually pull this off._ He deadpanned to himself, now increasingly aware of the pressure that is being pushed upon him.

  
\---

  
Dedede shoved the communicator he took from Sword Knight's helmet back into the knight's hand.

  
The king grit his teeth. "How long have you known about this?"

  
Sword Knight stepped back. "To be fair, he specifically told us to keep it a secret-" The king gripped onto his jet hammer while Blade Knight poked on their companion's soldier and hand signed something. Sword Knight glanced at that king. "Actually, let's clear this up now."

  
Dedede's anger seemed to subside slightly as he raised his eyebrow.

  
"The truth is: the idea to rebuild the Halberd was not Meta Knight's idea. It was ours." The knight continued. "We started the plans to rebuild the Halberd before we even knew Meta Knight was trapped in a magic mirror, so if you want to place the blame on anyone, put it on us."

  
The king stared at the knight for a couple of seconds before sighing and shutting down the jet-hammer. "What good possible reason could you have to rebuild the Halberd?"

  
Blade Knight once again signed something to Sword Knight before Sword could answer Dedede's question. Sword nodded their head and turned back to the king. "Believe me when I say this: WE ARE NOT PLANNING ANOTHER INVASION. We learned our lesson, and we accept you as Dreamland's King."

  
"I asked why you were rebuilding the Halberd, not why you weren't."

  
Sword stepped back in shock, not expecting Dedede to give such a smart response. The knight shook their head and regained their composure before continuing once more. "...Of course, Your Majesty."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight gracefully swam his way deeper and deeper into the Secret Sea, the light coming from the sky above beginning to fade as the knight descended into darkness.

  
"Sir! My radar says your right next to the Halberd!" Javelin exclaimed.

  
Meta Knight tapped a button on his mask that turned on the dark-vision on his mask, revealing an immensely large, recognizable, steel structure right in front of him, bringing a smile to the puffball's face. "Yes, I can see it. The entry hatch should be-"

  
"Right on the roof near the bridge, sir!"

  
The knight slowly crawled his way up the massive battleship, all the way up to the bridge where Meta Knight found the small, previously mentioned hatch. The knight turned the circular wheel on the hatch, unlocking it, before lifting the door open and feeling himself get sucked into the opening. Meta Knight felt himself land on the Halberd's floor with a loud clang, feeling a shower of water pound on him from above.

  
"Sir! There should be a rope to pull the hatch down!"

  
Meta Knight felt his hand latch on to the rope and forced it down, cutting off the torrent of water, allowing the knight to get back on his feet. The masked knight looked down the long steel corridor obscured by darkness. "Are you sure the Halberd is still functional?" Meta Knight asked with uncertainty.

  
"Of course it is. Do you want proof?" Javelin's voice was followed by the lights inside of the Halberd flashing on revealing the stretch of hallway leading to the door to the Halberd's control room in full.

  
Meta Knight smirked. "I...Sorry for doubting you."

  
"Of course you are, sir."

  
The caped knight quickly traveled over to the control room door, swinging it open with a strange sense of excitement. The knight paused in awe as he scanned the control room that looked just as it had little over a year ago back when it was taking it's maiden voyage. The old computer monitors were cracked, but most of the damage was fairly limited, and all of the buttons and keys were still in tact. Meta Knight slowly picked away at some of the controls, slowly entering in the password, and was pleasantly surprised when the monitor's image flicked on and displayed the symbol of the Meta-Knights, a capital M with a sword crossed through it.

  
Meta Knight chuckled. "It works."

  
"Of course it does! I helped build it!" Javelin exclaimed enthusiastically. "Now, try to emerge it."

  
Meta Knight pulled on a near by lever with determination, and stumbled slightly as the entirety of the Halberd began to rattle with a significant magnitude.

  
\---

  
Meta Knight blinked his eyes opened to see the light of sun glistening through the Halberd's windows, the sparkling sea making up the horizon. Meta Knight quickly tugged on his dimensional cape, causing it to spit out the illustrious treasure chest housing the Dark Nebula.

  
_This is perfect. All I have to do now is launch the Nebula out in space._ The knight mused to himself before his attention drifted over one of the computer monitors. The knight twitched his eye as he saw a pink puffball run down the hall displayed in one of the surveillance cameras. _Drat. Kirby's here._  
"What's wrong?" Javelin's voice buzzed.

  
"Kirby's already landed on the Halberd. I'm sorry, but I have to deal with this." Meta Knight switched off the voice com and drew Galaxia.

  
_Do you plan on fighting him?_ Galaxia asked.

  
The knight sighed. _I don't want to, but we're dealing with a Dark Matter here. I'll do what I must to keep the treasure out of Kirby's hands if it means protecting Dreamland._

  
Only another moment passed before Kirby ran into the control room. "Meta Knight! Give me the treasure chest!"

  
The knight exhaled before tossing Kirby a spare sword, as he had done multiple times before.

  
Kirby puffed his cheeks. "Man, does everything always have to be a sword duel with you?"

  
\---

  
Since Meta Knight fled the Ice Island with the Dark Nebula, Dedede and his subjects began marching back to the castle, a notable silence clouding over the entire group as the slowly marched back home. Dedede grumbled to himself, mulling over the uncertainty of what Meta Knight was up to. _I can't believe he just flew off like that. What if Meta Knight does try to launch another invasion? I'm no where close to the Castle, so I won't be able to even get any preparations ready in time!_ The king sighed. _Where did I go wrong? I never should have trusted Meta Knight; he hates me! How could I have been so stupid...?_ Dedede's eyes slowly trailed behind him where he saw that Sword Knight and Blade Knight were still following him. "Why are you two still following me?"

  
Sword Knight looked up. "Pardon, Your Majesty?"

  
"Why are you two still here! Shouldn't you be heading over to Meta Knight?"

  
The knights gave each other a glance before Sword Knight shrugged. "Meta Knight appointed us to be your guards, and we're going to continue to see that duty out."

  
Dedede brandished his hammer. "What is this? Some kinda cheap trick? I'm not falling for it."

  
Blade Knight hand signaled something to Sword Knight once again, Sword Knight nodding in approval. "You want proof?" The two knights dropped their swords and kneeled before the king. "Will you listen to us now?"

  
The king scowled. "...Are you sure Meta Knight can be trusted?"

  
"It was a surprise to us too; but the first thing Meta Knight said to us when we told him we were rebuilding the Halberd, he made us promise to not attempt another rebellion against you, Great King."

  
Bandanna Waddle Dee walked up to the two knights. "What is Meta Knight trying to accomplish? Why did he allow the Halberd's reconstruction?"

  
Sword Knight sighed. "Meta Knight...wishes for the Meta-Knights to be allowed to work at the Castle as guards."

  
The king blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

  
\---

  
Meta Knight blinked his eyes open he rolled over on the floor, feeling the cold steel press up against his bare face. "What...happened?" The knight jumped onto his feet as he realized that the control room had been thrashed as there were now visible dents in the floor and the wall. The knight's gold-silver eyes widened as he realized the treasure chest was no where to be found.

  
"Well," Kirby began. "I beat you again, then Daroach showed up and opened the chest, but something weird came up out of the chest; it looked like a Dark Matter! I think it possessed him, and then he fled up into space!" The puffball blurted out quickly.

  
Meta Knight groaned as he slapped a hand over his face. "Are you serious? Wait, don't answer that."

  
"So, uh-" Kirby laughed nervously. "Guess my cake wasn't in that chest. My bad." Kirby began to look around the room. "But I have to say, considering the fact the last time I saw the Halberd, it was falling out of the sky, I'm really surprised to still see it in working order!"

  
"Aye, The Halberd is one of the finest vessels ever constructed." The unmasked knight remarked.

  
Kirby bounced. "I'll say! This place looks amazing considering it sank to the bottom of the ocean!" The puffball proclaimed before stopping himself. "But, we need a way to chase after Daroach; especially if he's being possessed by a Dark Matter."

  
Meta Knight exhaled. Once again, Kirby's perceptiveness exceeds my expectations. "I couldn't agree more-" The knight placed a glove over the lever once more. "Good thing I have a solution for that already in place."

  
Suddenly, The two puffballs felt a force push them back down the floor and suddenly the view of the sea's horizon from the Halberd's window began to fall out of view and it was being replaced by the blue sky and fluffy clouds.

  
Kirby regained his footing and gasped at the view. "The Halberd! It's flying!"

  
Meta Knight felt a smile creep up his face and nodded before typing away at one of the computers. "Aye, the Halberd is also capable of tracking a creature such as Dark Matter. Daroach has no chance of escaping us this time!" The knight stopped when he heard a faint ringing sound come from his broken mask, still lying on the floor.

  
Kirby curiously looked down at the two broken pieces of metal. "Uh, Meta Knight? Your mask is ringing."

  
_That's odd. Javelin already knows that I'm using the Halberd to chase after Daroach. Why would he need to call me now?_ Before Meta Knight could walk over and pick up the mask pieces himself, Kirby had already grabbed one half of the mask and clicked of the buttons on it. "Hello?" The puffball seemed to jump as he heard the sound of the caller's voice. "Meta Knight! It's Dedede!"

  
The knight huffed. _Great. His Majesty is probably is probably calling to scold me again._ "Kirby, press the button above the 'answer' button. That will put the king on speaker."

  
"OK!" The puffball promptly clicked the button.

  
The king's voice now sounded throughout the entire room. "K-Kirby? What are you doing there? Are you-"

  
"What?" The pink puffball tilted his head. "No, don't worry! I'm fine! Me and Meta Knight are chasing after Daroach right now."

  
"Your Majesty-" The knight started. "Unfortunately, I lost possession of the treasure chest, but me and Kirby are on our way in the Halberd to remedy that."

  
The king huffed on the other side line, about to say something before Kirby interjected. "And before you get mad at Meta Knight again; I was the reason Daroach stole the chest! Just try to have faith in us; I promise we'll stop the Dark Matter!"

  
Kirby's response was followed by a pause before the communicator sounded once more. "...I...don't what to say."

  
"My liege, I promise you that I'll bring Kirby home safely once we dispatch the threat. All I ask is for you take my word." Meta Knight responded.

  
Kirby puffed his cheeks. "I don't need your protection. If anything, I'm protecting you, Meta."

  
The knight gave the other puffball a quick glare. "...Right. In any case, I'll bring Kirby back to Dreamland with the Halberd. I hope this will be acceptable, my liege."

  
The king's voice sighed. "I'll...hold you to that. Stay safe, uh, the both of you." The call was then cut off from the other side.

  
Meta Knight wiped the sweat off his face with his glove. _That conversation was unnecessarily stressful. Since when did I become so concerned with what Dedede has to say about me?_

  
_Since you started to want a job as an official knight of Dreamland._ Galaxia answered flatly.

  
The indigo puffball glanced away, feeling somewhat embarrassed as Kirby waddled up to the knight with a cheeky smile on his pink face. "Don't worry about Dedede. We can sort out your un-banishment when we return to Dreamland. For now, we should focus on stopping Daroach!"

  
The knight felt his stress begin to subside. "Thank you, Kirby. For believing in me, I mean. And you're right." Meta Knight pointed Galaxia to the window, which now displayed the star-blotted sky of the Gamble Galaxy, the home of Popstar and it's neighboring planets. "Daroach could not have gone far, even with Dark Nebula's power." Meta Knight's assertion was interrupted by a distant crashing sound and the two puffballs felt the Halberd rattle somewhat.

  
"What was that!?" Kirby cried.  
Meta Knight looked to the computer monitors. "We have good news and bad news. The good news is we know where Daroach is; the bad news is he just flung a rock into the Halberd."

  
Kirby gulped. "Uh-oh. Does that mean we're going to crash?"

  
"No, The wings and the engine are undamaged and the Halberd is still in orbit around Popstar; however, there's now a hole somewhere in the ship."

  
"I'll go fix it!" The pink puffball replied.

  
Meta Knight hummed. "I'd figure you'd say that, but considering time is of the essence, I'll go ahead and give you directions to Daroach's location; since the Halberd still isn't ready for intense space travel, especially with the damage." Meta Knight tapped on the computer and pulled up a map on its monitor. "Luckily, the rock that hit the Halberd broke and formed a warp star. You can use that to reach the dark hole next to Popstar's blue moon, where Daroach is hiding."

  
Kirby nodded with a serious look in his eyes. "I understand."

  
"Good." The knight responded. "In the meantime, I'll try to see if I can cover that hole up. I'm not too keen on having the Halberd crash right after I managed to drag it out of the ocean."

  
The pink puffball nodded once more before running out of the control room while Meta Knight hesitantly walked over to the two pieces of his broken mask.

  
_Meta Knight. Trust goes both ways._ Galaxia's voice said simply.

  
_I know..._ The knight picked up the two pieces of the mask and clicked on one of the 'call' buttons. "Sire?"

  
The king's voice answered back. "Meta Knight. Have you found Daroach?"

  
"I have, Kirby's on his way after him now."

  
The king's voice chuckled. "Knowing Kirby, Daroach is about to get kicked halfway across the Galaxy."

  
"I hope not. While Daroach was in the wrong for stealing from us, he is not responsible for purposefully freeing Dark Nebula. If he was, I'm certain that he wouldn't be possessed right now."

  
"...What?"

  
_Oh. I must have forgotten to tell Dedede that_. Meta Knight cleared his throat. "Um, yes. Daroach is currently being possessed by Dark Nebula."

  
"Well, just try to bring the rat back to the castle after you deal with the nebula. I'm not sure what exactly is going on up there, but I wish you luck."

  
"Thank you, your Majesty." Meta Knight turned the communicator off and exhaled. _Ok. I think we've got the situation under control again._

  
_And it sounds like your starting to get back into the king's good graces._ Galaxia continued.

  
_That doesn't matter. I just want to bring Kirby back to Dreamland safely. I could really use a break._

  
Galaxia's voice laughed. _That can certainly be arranged, son._

  
\---

  
Once Kirby left to further pursue Daroach, Meta Knight went to patch up the damages to the Halberd, and promptly passed out one of the computers in the control room. Meta Knight is usually not one to take naps, but the exhaustion of the events that had happened prior had worn the knight down more than anticipated. The indigo puffball groggily lifted his head off of the computer monitor. _Did...I fall asleep?_

  
_Don't worry._ Galaxia responded. _Nothing happened while you were asleep. At least nothing that required your concern._

  
The knight sheepishly wiped the drool away from his mouth. _Where's Daroach? Where's the Dark Nebula? Did they escape while I was asleep?_

  
_Look at camera number 2._

  
Meta Knight titled his head to one of the computer monitors where he saw Kirby and Daroach floating on a warp star right next to the Halberd. The knight brought a glove to his face and laughed. _That Kirby is always full of surprises._ Meta Knight walked his way out of the control room and to one of the elevators on the Halberd to head down to the floor where Kirby and Daroach were waiting to let inside. Meta Knight opened the door closest to the pink puffball and the mouse-folk and let them inside.

  
"I found Daroach and beat Dark Nebula!" Kirby cheered while Daroach was looking around the interior of the Halberd.

  
The mouse-folk whistled. "You know, I've heard that you were the owner of the Legendary Flying Halberd, Sir Meta Knight, but I'd never think that I would get to see it."

  
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Daroach." Meta Knight paused when he saw the strange wand Daroach held in his hand. It was a golden baton with a bell attached to its end. "Is...Is that the legendary Triple Star?"

  
Daroach's ears twitched. "Oh this?" The rat-folk tapped it into his paw. "It sure is. THIS was the treasure I was actually after. Little did I know it was also sealed away with that Dark Nebula creature."

  
_Great...Because we need another powerful artifact in the hands of a thief!_ Just as Meta Knight raised his hand to try to swipe the wand away, Kirby had snatched the Triple Star.

  
"C'mon, Meta Knight. Can you try to cut Daroach some slack? He didn't mean any real harm!" The pink puffball retorted.

  
"I'm sorry Kirby, but Daroach still stole from King Dedede. Ultimately, Dedede will get the final say on how this will get resolved." Meta Knight responded, beginning to head his way back to the main bridge.

  
Daroach scowled. "Yes, because King Dedede has never stolen from anyone before himself."

  
Kirby covered his mouth as he let out a slight gasp as Meta Knight paused. Without thinking, Meta Knight turned to Daroach, his gloves clenched. "Daroach. There was a time in which I would have thought the same as you, but the fact is that our King has traveled the galaxy in order to defend our home, while you have not. I'm not saying this to punish you, because I believe that a person with your talents is capable of doing great things; however, as you are now, you have not earned the same respect as our king. King Dedede used to be person guilty of what you had accused him of, but what changed is that he realized that and used that as a foundation for becoming a better person. When we do return to Dreamland, I intend to vouch for you, Daroach, because you remind me of many others, including myself, who let their arrogance allow them to do more harm than good; but is also capable of doing good things for good reasons. You can call me a hypocrite, but I just want to give everyone in Dreamland the best possible chances to be good. I hope you understand." Meta Knight swooshed his cape around as he headed back on his way to the control room.

  
_I..._ Galaxia stammered. _I don't know what to say...! Meta Knight, that was-_

  
Meta Knight sighed. _Long-winded? Idealistic? Out of character? Yes, I know-_

  
_No! That was amazing! As a teacher, I am so proud of you right now!_

  
_The knight exhaled once more. Please, I'm not a teacher. I just told Daroach to grow up and get his act together-_ Meta Knight paused as he felt a something tug his cape. The indigo puffball turned around to see Kirby, who had about the largest smile Meta Knight had ever seen on the pink puffball.

  
Kirby gave Meta Knight a quick hug. "Oh, Meta Knight! Thank you!"

  
The knight blinked his gold-silver eyes. "F-for what?"

  
The puffball nervously scratched the back of his head. "Oh! It's just that I wasn't expecting you to say something so nice to Daroach after everything that has happened."

  
Meta Knight quirked an eyebrow. "Nice? I was practically scolding him."

  
"Yeah, but-" Kirby stammered. "You were telling him what he needed to hear! I know that I'm always telling you to be nice to others, but you need to do it in a way that encourages them to be nice too! I'm just...impressed that you actually understood that." The puffball smiled at him.

  
Meta Knight patted Kirby's head. "It's only because you've been so kind to me."

  
The pink puffball shook his. "But of course! You and I are puffballs; we gotta stick together!"

  
The knight chuckled. "I have to tell about our home planet one day. I can't have you keep calling us 'puffballs'."

  
\---

  
Dedede shuddered as he saw the entirety of the Halberd land in the fields of Green Greens. The battleship was already intimidating to loom at from afar, but it was even more to see up close. _How Kirby ever took down this thing is beyond me._ Suddenly, a giant metal bridge began to unfurl off the side of the ship as its engines shut down and wings began to retract. The anticipation of watching the bridge slowly came down was impossible to ignore, but the king breathed a giant sigh of relief when he saw Kirby's pink puffy form waiting beyond the door, standing next to Meta Knight and a defeated Daroach.

  
"Dedede! Bandee!" The puffball cheered as he sprinted down the bridge to the king and the waddle soldier, tackling both of them in a hug. "We beat the Dark Nebula!"

  
"Yeah, yeah. Of course you did! No reason to boast about it, you little brat!" Dedede stopped when he saw Meta Knight escorting the cloaked mouse-folk over to the group.

  
"We found Daroach as well, your Majesty." Meta Knight said, bowing, with his glove still firmly gripped on Daroach's red cloak.

  
The mouse-folk sighed. "Forgive me, your Majesty. I must apologize for stealing the Dark Nebula from your possession."

  
The king frowned. "Yeah, I bet you're sorry." Dedede patted Daroach on the back. "Take it from me, being possessed sucks. I'm glad to hear that you've learned your lesson."

  
Daroach gave the king an awkward, crooked smile. "Does this mean I'm getting off scott free?"

  
Just as Dedede raised his glove, about to say something, he saw Kirby shaking his head. The king sighed. "Two weeks in the castle with the rest of your crew. Nothing serious, you're just going to have someone to keep an eye on you. BD?"

  
"You got it, boss." Bandanna Waddle Dee nodded before leading Daroach on his way to Castle Dedede.

  
"I have to admit I'm almost hurt, sir." Dedede twisted his head to see Meta Knight tapping his foot with his arms crossed. "The last time I crossed you, I was literally jetted across the Orange Ocean."

  
_Right. Can't forget about him._ Dedede clapped his hands together. "Alright. Let's get this settled once and for all." The king approached the masked knight. "Sword Knight told me that you're serious about this whole...making amends thing."

  
The knight nodded. "Aye."

  
"So you promise me that-" The king's eyes drifted to the Halberd. "You're not going to usurp me, right?"

  
"Your Majesty-" The knight gestured to Kirby, who was intently watching and listening in to the conversation from behind Meta Knight. "You and I have a mutual friend in Kirby who has been asking the both us to put aside our differences for some time now." The knight's gold eyes looked back to the pink puffball with a certain softness. "Kirby is like a student to me, I'd hate for that to get taken away just because you and I are too prideful to set aside our differences."

  
Dedede frowned. _Meta Knight can't possibly respect me. He's just doing this for Kirby's sake._ Dedede looked at the pink puffball who was giving the king an encouraging smile. _But that's not a bad reason to try to set things right._ The king sighed. "You're right. From here on out, Meta Knight is officially un-banned!"

  
"YES!" Kirby squeaked before hugging Meta Knight, catching the knight off-guard.

  
Meta Knight carefully put Kirby back on the ground, looking quite disorientated and turned to Dedede. "Wait, you're serious about this?"

  
The king nodded. "As serious as I can be." Dedede reached a glove out to the knight, who eyed the hand hesitantly.

  
"I-" The knight shook the king's hand. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

  
Dedede adjusted his robe. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just try to stay out of trouble."

  
The knight squinted. "Of course I will."

  
_Glad to get that off my chest._ Dedede thought, his eyes slowly drifting to Kirby who was suspiciously...sad looking.

  
"Kirby?" Meta Knight walked over to the pink puffball. "What's wrong?"

  
Kirby wiped a tear from his eye. "It's just that...I never got my cake back!"  
Dedede felt as if a gong just went off in his head. _Oh right. This whole thing started just because Kirby lost his cake._ Dedede gently patted the puffball's head. "Oh come on, Kirbs! We can just go back to the castle and bake you another cake!"

  
Kirby sniffled. "Yeah, I know...it's just that I wish I figured out how I lost it!" The puffball held a hand against his cheek as he entered deep thought. "I know that you didn't do it Dedede! And I don't think Daroach is much of a cake person...Maybe it was the Dark Nebula! I remember seeing a dark blur disappear with my cake!"

  
Dedede chuckled. "No offense, Kirbs. But something tells me that Dark Nebula wasn't exactly a 'cake person' either!" _Besides, it's not like it matters that much. 'A dark blur' ?Kirby probably imagined it!_ Dedede's eyes slowly drifted over to Meta Knight, who had just awkwardly coughed. _...Wait a minute._

  
The knight coughed once more. "Don't worry Kirby. I'm certain that if there is a thief, they won't try to steal your cake this time."

  
Kirby hummed. "I guess you're right. Let's head back to the Castle so we can all eat cake together! It'll be great!"

  
Meta Knight looked like he was about to fall over as Kirby began to dash down the road to the castle.

  
Dedede looked at Meta Knight with a shocked expression. "...You were the one who stole his cake?"

  
The knight coughed, his face flushing furiously. "Aye. I couldn't help it. Curse me and my sweet tooth."

  
The king stared at him with a blank expression. "I better not hear anything from you again about me and my appetite."

  
Dedede detected a faint, nervous smile from underneath Meta Knight's mask. "Of course, my liege."

 

 


	18. Step 14: Find the Common Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the final chapter

  
It was sunset over Dreamland, the day ending just as peacefully as it began. Most of Dreamland's inhabitants were on their way home to rest for the rest of night as the sun sank past the horizon to make room for one of Dreamland's moons. Meta Knight was gliding his way back to his new post at Castle Dedede when he noticed what appeared to be a parade of waddle dees.

  
_That's strange._ The knight thought to himself. _I thought that everyone would be heading home by now. What's going on?_

  
Meta Knight slowly descended closer to the crowd to see what was going on when he noticed that King Dedede was seemingly leading the group. When he saw this, Meta Knight landed behind Sword Knight and Blade Knight, who were taking up the back of the group.

  
"Hey, what's going on?" Meta Knight said to the other knights.

  
Sword Knight looked up to him. "You haven't heard? Kirby just beat Dedede again."

  
Meta Knight raised an eyebrow. "'Beat him'? What for? Dedede hasn't done anything wrong."

  
Sword Knight and Blade Knight shared a look before Sword Knight answered. "Oh. I forgot that you were gone at the hangar all day. Dedede challenged Kirby to a duel and lost."

  
"W-Why would he do that?"

  
Sword Knight shrugged. "Dedede said it was something about putting the past behind them. I think he just wanted to figure out who strongest out of the both of them once and for all."

  
The masked blinked in disbelief. "Where's Kirby?"

  
"Don't know. I figure that he probably just headed home-" Sword Knight glanced to the pack of waddle dees and the defeated king. "But the king seems to be really torn up about this."

  
Meta Knight frowned. "Well, he shouldn't be. I'm going to go try and talk to him." Meta Knight flapped his wings and flew over the heard of waddle dees, landing right in front of Dedede's track. "A moment, your Majesty?"

  
The king was barely phased by this, as his head continued to be pointed towards the ground, but he did let out a sigh. "What now? Can't you see I'm busy sulking?"

  
The masked knight squinted at the dejected king. "Yes, I can see that; but you really shouldn't be."

  
Dedede crossed his arms. "Oh, and why's that? Because I'm acting like a child?" He said sarcastically.

  
"Yes, actually, but there's more to it than that." Meta Knight walked next to the king. "Why did you think it was necessary to challenged Kirby to a duel?"

  
The king sighed. "I don't know. I've been feeling kinda...restless lately. I've been thinking about how Kirby was so willing to believe that I fell back into bad habits back during the Dark Nebula incident and I kinda just wanted to-" Dedede kicked a pebble on a road. "-bash my anger out."

  
"But I don't understand. You and Kirby are friends. Why would jeopardize that by picking a fight you didn't need to?"

  
"I-" The king's eyes sank. "You're going to make fun of me for this."

  
"Really? You call me 'blueberry knight' all the time, yet I never do anything about it." Meta Knight flipped his cape. "Besides, petty name-calling is beneath me."

  
The king laughed. "Yeah, of course it is, mask-head."

  
"There's another one."

  
The king laughed even harder this time, before his chuckles died out and he regained his frown once more. "At this point...Kirby's like another one of the waddle dees to me. Since Adeleine's been away to Ripple Star, I've been kinda...sad lately. BD can attest to this!" Dedede pointed to Bandanna Dee who was marching besides Dedede and simply nodded. The king sighed. "I know that Kirby's stronger than me, but the reason I became king in the first place was because I used to be the strongest one around! All these waddle dees were being pushed around and teased before I came along! I see it as my duty to protect these guys because it's one of the few things people actually like me for!"

  
"I...can get that, but where does Kirby come into all of this?"

  
Dedede lowered his head and tugged on his robe. "I like having the puffball around. He's the own with an appetite that matches mine, for one! But he's also just so...childish. In a good way, I mean! I like having someone like Kirby around; it's really refreshing! Especially since being a king seems to just get harder and harder."

  
"But we wouldn't have it any other way!" Bandanna Dee interjected.

  
Dedede glanced at the dee. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's not as easy as I make it look!"

  
_I wasn't expecting this. I've been a official knight for Dreamland for several weeks now, and Dedede hasn't approached me about any of this. I'm impressed by how much he actually cares about these sort of things._ Meta Knight thought to himself before clearing his throat and interjecting himself. "It sounds to me like you see Kirby almost like another member of your family." Meta Knight just now realized how alien the word 'family' sounded in his voice.

  
"Yeah..." Dedede's eyes slowly widened as if he just had an epiphany. "That...That's exactly right." The king jerked his head and stared at Meta Knight. "How...How did you figure that?"

  
Meta Knight glanced away. "You and Kirby have known each other for a long time, and the both of you have a lot in common; besides the appetite thing." The knight scratched his head. "As far as I know, Kirby has lived alone on Popstar, and his general friendliness might be an attempt to fill the void, so to speak, of his missing family." _There's that word again._

  
Galaxia suddenly hummed from behind Meta Knight's dimensional cape. _Reminds me of young child I met many eons ago. He came to me looking for a teacher, I went out of it with a son._

  
Meta Knight clenched his eyes shut. _That's right. I know exactly how Kirby feels._ The knight opened his eyes and sighed. _Is that why I've been so kind to him? Because I want to fill that void?_

  
_His or your void?_ Galaxia's voice echoed.

  
"Um-" Dedede started. "Are you talking with Galaxia right now or something?"

  
The knight jumped as he snapped back to reality. "Oh! Um, my apologies, my liege." Meta Knight shook his head slightly and turned his attention back to Dedede. "Y-you were saying...?"

  
The king blinked before starting again. "Right, as I was saying; I wanted to put that stupid rivalry with Kirby behind me because he's my friend-" Dedede shook his head. "Like a member of a my family. But I think that I maybe took it a bit too far this time."

  
"He fought Kirby inside an electric cage." Bandanna Dee said flatly.

  
"Ah, so you too it THAT far, then?" Meta Knight mused.

  
Dedede sighed. "Yeah...I was so desperate to prove that there's still a reason for me to be taken seriously that I took it an extreme." The king looked at the knight with deeply saddened eyes. "You challenge Kirby to duels all the time! What do you think I should do?"

  
_What should he do? I'm not actually on expert on this type of stuff._ Meta Knight took a deep breath. _But I know Kirby. Maybe it's my turn to make amends as well._ The knight looked back up to the king. "Knowing Kirby, he'll probably run back up to the castle to see you and pretend that this had never happened. However, to go out of your way to see him and apologize yourself is the most responsible and sincere thing you could do at this time."

  
Dedede stroked his beak. "...Alright. Let's head there right now."

  
\---

  
As Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandanna Waddle Dee ran to Kirby's house, they saw the pink puffball in question laying a wooden hammer up against the wall of his house.  
"Kirby!"

  
Kirby spun around, his eye's widening upon seeing the group of three dashing towards him. "K-King Dedede?"

  
Meta Knight shuttle-looped in the air and landed on his feet while Dedede and Bandanna Dee skidded to stop as they reached Kirby.

  
"K-Kirby." Dedede caught his breath. "I owe you an apology."

  
Kirby tilted his head, his eyes drooped with sadness. "What...What for?"

  
The king placed a glove on the young puffball's head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have challenged you to that duel. It was stupid of me to do something like that, and I won't do it again."

  
Kirby placed a nubby hand over his mouth. "Oh. Y-you don't need to apologize! I shouldn't have accepted the challenge if I knew it was going to upset you."

  
"Kirby." Meta Knight said, approaching the child. "Why did you accept the challenge? I thought that you were against fighting with friends."

  
"I-I am!" The puffball stammered. "But I thought that if Dedede really wanted to fight me, I had too because he's my friend."

  
"What? No!" The king exclaimed. "You should never fight someone because you're friends and they ask you to! Darn!" Dedede slapped his own face. "Is this really what I've been teaching you...?"

  
The pink puffball frowned. "I...I don't know why you asked me to fight you. Did I do something wrong?"

  
"Of course you didn't, Kirby." Bandanna Dee answered. "This is just all one big mistake. Dedede just wants to make sure that you understand that."

  
The king sighed. "Listen. I thought that by dueling with you, you and I would be able to set aside that rivalry of ours; which is silly in hindsight. I know. But-" Dedede looked down to the bright-eyed round figure. "-I only did it because I wanted to prove myself as someone you can rely on when the going gets tough, because I'm tired of always having to rely on you and you never being able to rely on me."

  
Kirby was about respond before Meta Knight placed a hand on the puffball's head. "Kirby. You are undeniably strong and brave, but you are still a child. Popstar is a wonderful place for you because you are able to live a life of peace, in whatever way you wish. However, I know that you probably worry about what could happen to Popstar, so you take it upon yourself to be the hero."

  
"But you shouldn't have to do it alone!" Bandanna Dee interjected.

  
"Listen, Kirby." Meta Knight continued. "The reason we're telling you this is because it's something both me and Dedede are guilty of. That's the primary reason why we made the mistakes we did."

  
"And the mistakes we hope that you will avoid." Dedede interjected.

  
The masked knight sighed. "I put my faith in you so many times. All I ask is that next time Dreamland is in trouble, you're not afraid to put your faith in us."

  
Kirby glanced around at the three of them before swallowing and shedding a single tear. "I-" The puffball sniffled. "Thank you, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandee. Thank you." The puffball leaned over and attempted to hug all three of them, his sobs being muffled against the others.

  
Meta Knight kept blinking his eyes as he realized he was beginning to tear up as well. _I shouldn't be crying._

  
_It's what families do, Meti._ Galaxia's voice whispered.

  
_I'm not a family with these people._

  
Galaxia giggled. _Perhaps, but you can still become one._

  
_\---_

  
Dedede carefully hung his new masked helmet over the head of his bed. _Time to head on to new beginnings. Leave the past behind. Be more positive._ The king's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a knock on his door.

  
_It's probably Bandanna Dee. Let's see what he's up to._ Dedede swung the door open, expecting to see Bandanna Dee, but was surprised to see the indistinguishable mask of Meta Knight; however, the knight himself was splashed with what appeared to be bright pink paint.

  
Dedede couldn't help but snicker upon seeing this. "Hey, MK. Trying a new coat of paint?"

  
"Ha ha. Your humor astounds me, my king." The knight deadpanned. "No, I'm here to talk to you about the young girl that just attacked me with a paintbrush."

  
Dedede noticed that Adeleine was standing behind Meta Knight with her arms crossed. "Hey, Triple-D! Why didn't you tell me that Meta Knight was hanging around in the castle?"

  
Dedede rolled his eyes and walked over to Adeleine. "Hey there, Adeleine! How's Ripple Star?"

  
"Are we seriously going to ignore the fact that she attacked me?" Meta Knight muttered under his breath.

  
Dedede guided the girl away to avoid Meta Knight listening in. "Hey, Addie. Why did you attack Meta Knight?"

  
"I didn't know that he's supposed to be inside the castle! Last time I checked, he was still banned!" The girl explained.

  
"Long story short, he's not. Meta Knight's cool and he's allowed to stay inside the castle." Dedede asserted. "However, as hilarious as he looks with that paint on him, I think we would both appreciate it if you were to apologize to him."

  
Adeleine glanced over to the knight who gave her a glare. The artist sighed. "You got it, Triple-D" Just as Adeleine walked back over to Meta Knight, she began to burst into laughter. "Sorry, sorry! It's just that you look so silly with that paint!"

  
Meta Knight raised an eyebrow to Dedede. "She seems to take after you."

  
"Ok, ok, ok." Adeleine cleared her throat. "Meta Knight, I'm sorry for assaulting you with a paintbrush."

  
Meta Knight sighed before bowing his head. "Thank you, Adeleine."

  
"I'll talk to later, Dedede." Adeleine waved to the king before she skipped off down the hallway.

  
Meta Knight turned to Dedede. "You wouldn't happen to have a dish rag or something I could use to wipe this paint off, would you?"

  
"We have some in the kitchen, but I'll just get an old shirt from my room!"

  
"Very classy, my liege." The knight with his signature snark as Dedede dashed back into his room.

  
Meta Knight paused as he saw the helmet set above the king's bed. "What's with the helmet?"

  
The king's eyes widened. "Oh! Uh, t-that? Uh, that's my, uh, battle-mask."

  
"Battle-mask?" Meta Knight quirked an eyebrow. "Does this have something to do with that duel between you and Kirby?"

  
"Kinda..." Dedede's voice drifted off. "I mean, it has more purpose than that."

  
"Go on."

  
Dedede sighed and he took the helmet into his hands. "Just another defense mechanism. It's supposed to help prevent me from being possessed. Guess the Dark Nebula got me acting antsy again."

  
"I keep forgetting you're actually a mechanical genius." The knight remarked.

  
Dedede got a giant grin on his face. "You really think so?"

  
"Well, considering your jet-hammer is actually half-way functional despite the ridiculous thought process you must have had to make that thing, I'm inclined to say 'yes'." The knight squinted at the battle-helmet. "Why a mask, though? Wouldn't a crown be more kingly?"

  
The king chuckled nervously. "Oh, you're going to hate me for this." Dedede looked at the knight. "Uh, it was actually kinda inspired by...your mask."

  
Meta Knight blinked. "You're right. I do hate it. What happened to making fun of me by calling me 'mask-head'?"

  
"Oh come on! I was teasing you! And I haven't called you mask-head recently, have I?"

  
Meta Knight shut his mouth as he internally changed his answer. "A couple of days ago, actually"

  
The king smirked. "Whatever. Besides, I think it looks cool." Dedede placed the helmet over his head. "What do you think?"

  
The knight stepped back. "I have to say; you almost look threatening with that thing on, my king."

  
Dedede laughed as he removed the horned mask.

  
"A far cry from your usual appearance." Meta Knight deadpanned. "But I'm glad to hear you actually agree with some of my fashion choices."

  
Dedede snorted.

  
"Without the paint, I mean."

  
"Oh yeah. Here ya go." Dedede tossed an old, torn shirt to the knight.

  
Meta Knight let out a quiet laugh. "Thank you."

  
\---

  
Meta Knight shut the book he was reading.

  
_I can't believe I avoided reading for so long._

  
_I told you you would enjoy it._ Galaxia said cheekily.

  
_And you were right. However-_ Meta Knight glanced down the grassy hill where he saw the king and Bandanna Dee chasing after Kirby who was carrying a plate of cake with him. _Some things have stayed the same._

  
_But you have changed, haven't you?_

  
Meta Knight smiled. _I suppose._ Suddenly, the knight shivered as an odd wave of energy passed over him.

  
_That...No that can't be._ Galaxia hummed.

  
_What is it?_

  
_I sense...Halcandran magic?_

  
Meta Knight looked up to the sky as he saw a flying blue boat descend its way into the country side. _A-a Halcandran vessel?_

  
"Meta Knight!"

  
The knight twirled around and saw Kirby, Dedede, and Bandanna Dee running up the hill to him.

  
"Hey, MK! What's going on!?" Dedede said as he approached the caped warrior.

  
Meta Knight glanced to the sky once more, seeing the Halcandran ship crash into the earth below. The knight heroically pointed Galaxia in the direction of the crashed ship. "I'm not sure what's happening, but let's find out together." And so the star child, the king, the knight, and the soldier all bounded over to the mysterious blue-ship, prepared to solve whatever problem that may arise from this as Meta Knight promised; together.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank all of you for reading a king and knight's guide. my next project will be a one-chapter kirby fic titled 'legend of the lost star' which will explain how Meta Knight first met Galaxia. after that, i'm thinking of either doing a pokemon mystery dungeon fic starring original characters, or another kirby fic starring the three mage sisters. in the meantime, i hope you enjoyed the conclusion of a king and knight's guide. thank you.


End file.
